Just the 6 of us...for now

It's 11:24pm and I comtemplated on whether I had the energy to update the blog. I realize it's been forever, but since school started our family "grew" again! So here's an update in short version.

Phillips Reagan - now proudly announces his full American name to everyone. It sounds like "Phillip-A-Reagan-Eye"! (In a shouting voice, of course!! Most evenings he screams "hold -ju" (that's hold you!). He's making great progress at will soon transition into a 3-year-old preschool class. He started sleeping in a big-boy bed with Preston this week. He's fallen out twice, but seems to like sleeping in a room with someone much better than alone.

Parker Reese is doing great in Pre-K. He still continues to entertain each of us. His newest saying is, "Mom, I just don't understand"....and then he asks random questions."Why don't people talk about the Grinch"? "Why doesn't my friend Grace talk to me in class, but she talks to me at afterschool?" "Can we open our presents today?" "I'm not feeling so good today...I think we are going to have to do homeschool today (I hear this one about 5 days a week).

Preston is a reading machine! He passed the goal for his class and then was honored at the UGA Lady Dogs game, but he gave up the opportunity to go to the game because he wanted to get on the road to see his Nana and Papa! He is the best big brother in the world and I'm so proud of his accomplishments at school. He is becoming a pro at biking and Grandma bought him a skateboard for xmas.

Ma-fan is doing great! She stays busy with basketball and thank goodness we have carpool to get to and from practices and games. She is really blessed to have two of the best coaches on earth, John Hawley and Leshawn Dempsey. They really invest a lot of time in the girls and teach them so much more about life than jus the skills of the game. Ma-fan is doing so well in school. She was exempt from all of her finals. She's discovery all kinds of new talents (flower design, drums, drawing, etc). Today she brought home a beautiful xmas wreath she made in Floral Design. I still haven't convinced her of loving the art of cooking and baking, but she's usually right by side as I work in the kitchen so she can sample everything as soon as possible. She loves the snow...first time she's ever seen it in her life (no snow in Bangkok, Thailand).

This is finals week at EJMS, where I teach 7th grade Science and ELA. I have a kidney infection and had to miss Monday and half a day on Tuesday. The kids are so, so, so ready to be on vacation and I am too! I promised them no tests tomorrow (unless they've been in OSS or sick)...fun, fun, fun, tomorrow!

Jeremiah has been busy at school as well. It's that time of year for lots of schedule changes, evening events to attend, and helping out with everything are family needs to keep running smoothly. He helps drop off and pick up kids (our own and some others), runs to the grocery store, helps with bedtime. You name it...he helps with it. He will be coaching Track in the Spring so we will miss him!!! He will have a blast and he can't wait to work with the students.

Pray for Static Student Mall! If you haven't heard of it...google it and see what pops up. I'll share more when I have time, but right now it's in the stages of trying to get funding and going through all of the hard work to get it up and running. It's going to be awesome!

4th Birthday, Teaching, Football & Exchange Student

Parker Reese is turning four so we celebrated Toy Story style. We had fun decorating Toy Story cupcakes, pigs (Hamm), 3 eyed aliens, and sprinkles. Just as the party started the door bell rang. It was Buzz Lightyear and Jessie the Cowgirl. Parker Reese had fun playing with his friends and wearing his Buzz custome all day.

I had asked two teenagers if they would be willing to dress up for the party. Well, I can't say enough good things about these two!! They went above and beyond what most teenagers would do for a four-year-old. They made their own costumes, Buzz pinned a special pin on the birthday boy, they played Toy Story "bowling" with all the little ones, and helped when it was time to open presents. I really admire kids like this who try to set a good example for little ones to look up too. I know that most teenagers would have laughed at the thought of dressing up for a four-year-olds birthday party and that many are caught up in some really terrible things. We are so blessed to know an awesome group of teenagers whose parents truly love them and have taught them how to show love to others.

A bit of change is coming our way this week. I've been staying home with Phillips, but I got a call from West Jackson Middle School to teach a Title Reading Program, which is what I got my Master's in, so I start on Monday. I'm really exciting to be teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th grade reading and connections. This is a just a long-term-subbing position. Phillips has been wearing his backpack around all weekend. He wants to go to school like his big brothers so he keeps getting his backpack on and saying, "Mommy, let's go bye-bye!" I don't have to the heart to be the one to leave him at "school" so daddy is going to have to do the dirty work of morning drop off!

Please continue to pray for my sweet friend, Sharon. She will be leaving for China this week to adopt her second Chinese daughter (her 5th daughter)! Shaylee Joy will be one lucky little girl to join the Ankerich family. Sharon and I used to teach together at Duncan Creek and she was such an inspiration to me. During my planning time, I would observe in her room and just soak up everything she had to offer. She taught me so much and has answered every single question I had about international adoption. Thank you, Sharon, for being an insipiration and we can't wait to introduce Phillips to Shaylee Joy!

Jeremiah is helping Coach Kirk again this year with highschool football. We went to the first scrimmage game last Friday. It's a little different this year, since a lot of the boys that Jeremiah mentored graduated and have already moved away to college, but some of his "Senior guys" (now college freshman) showed up and were so excited to fill us in all that is going on in their lives. We are really excited to see Tonya's son, Eric, play this year for the first time. Go panthers!

One of the highschool Math teachers that used to watch Preston when I was teaching in Gwinnett, introduced me to a family that is hosting a highschool student from Thailand. Her English is very good and we enjoyed visiting and sharing stories at the football game. It was nice to introduce her to some of the other girls and watch them swoop in and take her under their wings. They invited her to DQ after the game, but she had a early tennis match in Athens Saturday morning. Ma Fan was so excited to meet Phillips. She wanted to speak to him in Chinese, but he was too tired to cooperate. I'm really looking forward to getting to know Ma Fan better and helping her make some new friends in Jackson County.

Staghorn June 2010

Blessed Beyond Belief

I apologize to everyone who thought I would blog all summer! I'm stealing the "Blessed Beyond Belief" phrase from my friend Sharon. This summer our family has been blessed beyond belief. We've spent the entire summer together. When I say, together I mean all five of us! Jeremiah has always worked in the summer, but this ummer he chose to stay home with us. I resigned from my position as Children's Pastor at NC to stay home and have not once regretted it.

This summer we've done tons of fun things. Here's our list:

1. Watched fireworks and went to a cookout
2. Went roller skating
3. Swam, swam, and swam some more
4. Went camping
5. Went to Myrtle Beach, SC with Jeremiah's family
6. Ate dinner together as a family every single day
7. Enjoyed dates with each other - thank you Flannery family
8. Had a cook-out with our neighbors
9. Made home-made bird feeders
10. Went to the free movies
11. Reunion with the Patterson family (our Chinese travel neighbors)
12. Celebrated 9 years of marriage
13. Grandpa treated us Maggie Moos Ice Cream!

Phillips is doing great. We had a therapy appointment this morning, but Ms. Rebecca had car trouble and didn't make it. Here is the latest with Mr. Phillips:
1. He says, "I like lotion."
2. He says, "I like that!"
3. He says, "my Tracy" when his brothers are getting my attention and not him
4. When we tell him to do something he laughs and says, "no way!"
5. Eats us out of house and home
6. Loves to be tickled on his neck
7. He thinks Preston's name is "brother"
8. Thinks that our neighbor and her dogs live next door to everyone. Everywhere we go he points to the house next door and says, "Nancy? Roxy? Sadie?"
9. Sings the Elmo song...la la la la, la la la la, Elmo's world!
10. Loves storytime and copies what I read

China 2010

What a difference

What a difference a couple of weeks makes! Phillips is doing sooo much better. He has such a little personality...quiet different than the terried screaming baby we first met. He is blossoming into a toddler. Here are some great things that have happened since we came home:

1. Phillips walks! He is still a momma's boy and wants to be on my hip A LOT, but we've seen huge improvements. He can go down one step without flipping over and can go up steps while holding onto to someone.

2. He is completely off of bottles and can drink very well from either a sippy cup or a regular cup without a lid. He still LOVES super hot drinks and begs for sips of my coffee every morning.

3. He is getting used to dogs! He still doesn't really like our dog, Sigma, but is petting some of the neighborhood dogs and calls every moving thing "doggy"!

4. He is eating! Loves fresh fruit, finally eating meat, and has discovered popsicles.

5. Favorite stuffed animal is no longer Pleasant Goat, but has been replaced by ELMO!

Are you interested in adoption or want to find out how to help another family bring their baby home? Feel free to email us at mrandmrseye@yahoo.com and we will be happy to share information with you.

Getting to Know you

Here's what we know:

Phillips weighs 32 pounds

Head circum. = 19.5 inches!

Favorite foods - apples, bread, noodles, blueberry smoothies, yogurt, HOT drinks, oatmeal, Cheez-its, bananas, cheese, cinnamon toast, cereal,turkey, rice, Sobe (thx to Marvin...gotta love having students around who think it's cute to give him sugary drinks)

Despises - broccoli, grean beans, any type of sauce

Favorite place to hang out - in the sling, wrapped in mommy's arms

First words - momma, daddy, brobro, nana, yogurt, byebye

Funny thing he does - rolls his eyes

Favorite game - peek-a-boo

Not sure of - dogs

Loves to play in the water

Favorite music- mother's heartbeat and Jimmy Buffett

Favorite thing to play with - momma's cell phone

Has discovered that Chas and Nancy keep a jar of Smarties next door for him and his brothers!

Attached to his Lovie - a blue soft blanket from the staff at Puckett's Mill Elem.

Knows how to walk - but prefers not too

Learning how to climb steps, one at a time, one foot leading, holding on to someone

Misses his best friend, Miri, who was our "hotel" neighbor in China...can't wait till July when we can all be together again!

Loves his brothers, but not ready to share food with them.

Is potty trained - thank you Jesus!

Has brought more joy to our family than we could have ever imagined :)

This is at our hotel, The White Swan in Guangzhou

Phillips in on the couch, centered, in black & gold

TB Test Results

Good morning! Here's the latest news from Tracy and Jeremiah:

We went back to the clinic to check Phillips' TB results and the spot on his arm measured too large so we had to go get a chest x-ray. He didn't like that one bit, but they allowed me to put a vest on and hold his hands while they did the x-rays. Everything turned out fine and we were able to leave.

Phillips continues to make progress each day. He is babbling more and more and loves to repeat English words. He hasn't been eating very well, but we are hopeful that a normal routine at home will make things easier for him. We've traveled a lot and moved hotels, so each place is a new adventure and lots of appointments to go to.

We are excited for everyone to meet Phillips, however, with all that he has been though, we plan to keep him home for a while. Out of all of the 15 children in our group, he had the hardest time adjusting to going outside of our room and being around other people. He attached to us very quickly, but he becomes terrified and freezes up when other people try to talk with him or interact with him. He has gotten comfortable with our travel "neighbors" and their little girl and we continue to reassure him of our love and affection.

We ask for your prayers as we have three more flights - one to Beijing and then from Beijing to Chicago, and then Chicago to Atlanta. This is a long time on the planes and we pray that he will be restful and and have an easy trip.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

An Update from Guangzhou

Good evening. Here is the latest update from the Eye family:

We arrived in Guangzhou on Friday evening. I haven't been able to email because I got sick on the flight to Guangzhou with a stomach virus and then got an ear infection and fever. Luckily one of the families traveling with us is a doctor and I started antibiotics yesterday. So I will backtrack a little to fill you in.

Phillips had several rough days of "grieving". He was terrified of everyone and would only feel secure snuggled next to Jeremiah or me while in the sling. While I think he has bonded very easily to us, he was struggling to get rest and to go outside of the hotel. He would become frozen when anyone would approach him.

We've had a huge change since we've been in Guangzhou. Last night we went to the playroom and he ran around playing and laughing. We bought him "squeaky" shoes and he enjoys walking and hearing them squawk. Squeaky shoes are used in the USA for therapy, so now I can see the huge benefit of them! He has slowly started to eat again, but is reverting back to his favorite....rice congee.

He had to get 4 shots and a TB test at the clinic (3 1/2 hours) and we go back today to read the results. He is still a little sick from the shots (diarrhea) but he is great about going to the bathroom. He hasn't had any accidents so far.

Right now he is playing with Miri (an 18 month old girl) that is our hotel neighbor and they are originally from GA. We have become good friends and enjoy spending time with each other. Miri's family lives in Steamboat, Colorado and they are visiting their family in GA in July and we plan to get together.

I'll continue to post updates as I receive them. Have a great week!

Together at Last!

A Little About Phillips

Good Afternoon! Here is an update from Tracy and Jeremiah that I received early this morning:

Phillips finally got out of the sling and walked a little. He likes to push the button for the elevator. By the time we get to the lobby he screams to get back into the sling with "MAMA"!!! He is very loving and is attaching well to both of us.

We took him to the doctor today because we thought he may have pneumonia. She said his lungs are inflamed and he does not have pneumonia, but we should put him antibiotics for his respiratory infection. We are still waiting on the prescription.

Phillips' motor skills are delayed, but he walking and we practiced climbing the steps today. I think he will catch up quickly with practice and using his muscles more. He only says a few things in Chinese, but he can repeat many things in English. We bought him some stacking cups today and he is having a blast playing with them. He is walking much better now that he has proper fitting shoes.


Most of the small children in our group know how to eat with chopsticks. So we gave him chopsticks at breakfast this morning. He had no idea how to feed himself, but made everyone laugh when he smacked the waitress with his chopsticks as she walked by. He is slowly learning how to feed himself and is enjoying filling up his belly. He is still on a bottle, but is doing great throughout the day with a straw-cup.

He has gone pee-pee on the potty twice for us and poo-poo twice, as well. He is so excited to earn M&M's!! He is figuring out that mommy and daddy are staying around and that we have some pretty good food and drinks. He screams for me to hold him anytime we leave our room, but is slowly getting more mobile and willing to go new places.


I had to go to the eye doctor today and he was great there. He played with Jeremiah the whole time. One of the girls working at the store swooped him out of my arms and took him to get a balloon and some candy. He is usually terrified around Chinese people, but he really liked her and fell asleep in her arms.

Phillips is now legally our son! We have completed all of the necessary registration and notary documents. We now have the official certificate that we still with him for the rest of his life. He will become an American citizen as soon as we land back in the USA.

We are currently in Zhengzhou. We will fly to Guangzhou on Friday with the other families. We are enjoying this special time with Phillips and are so thankful that he is relatively healthy compared to some of the other children. One of the babies was sent to the hospital today. Most of the children are sick with respiratory illnesses, skin conditions from bug bites, viral skin infections, and diarrhea. These are all very common. Please pray that each of the children would quickly regain their strength for our journey back home.

Thanks for all of your prayers!
Love,
Tracy

Phillips is Here!!! :)

Wonderful news from Tracy this morning:

Phillips is here!!!!!!!

We went to the Registration office this morning. Phillips was not there yet ;( I waited outside the door and actually saw him drive up! The orphanage director was holding him in the back seat and as soon as they opened the car door, I immediately recognized him. They brought him up the steps and I asked if he was "Chun Bao" and they checked my lanyard and handed him right to me. Luckily, Jeremiah caught it on tape!

He didn't cry at all. Just stared at me. He was hungry and ate chicken and rice for lunch and a bottle of water. He immediately fell in love with eating push. It was a nice day outside. We were able to talk with his "teacher" and she knew him very well. She gave us a photo album of him and we were thrilled to see that he got birthday cake at the orphanage. We were able to see a little glimpse into the orphanage and some of his friends. His teacher cried when she left.

Phillips was frozen scared for a few hours and never cried or talked. However, he is opening up. He can repeat many words and calls us "mama" & "dada". He heard the bath water running and ran into the tub asking for a bath. He LOVED the tub and we played with him forever in the tub. After his bath we snuggled on the bed and he had a blast rubbing lotion all over himself.

Phillips has eaten a lot today: chicken and rice, a banana, an apple, two bowls of oatmeal, two formula bottles and two water bottles. He sat on the potty a couple of times, but nothing. We pulled out a pair of undies and a diaper and asked him which one he wanted and he pointed to the diaper.

He just fell asleep for the night in his daddy's arms so we are heading back to our room. Thanks so much for all the prayers. Phillips is able to walk and knows a lot of sounds. We haven't seen him go up steps as he mostly wants to stay in the sling or be held.

Be sure to view the picture of Jeremiah and Phillips below! :)

Gotcha Day

Here is the latest from Tracy:

Good morning from China!

Today is "gotcha day". We will be traveling around 9:30am to the registration office to get Phillips. There are 15 families (35 people) in our group. We are so excited, but honestly my stomach is in knots...I felt very ill last night, just worried about Phillips. Phillips has never experienced life outside of the orphanage, so we know that traveling with a large group of people and such a change in his normal routine will be scary.

Last night we took a taxi to Wal-mart. What a fun experience. We were able to purchase some things for Phillips: rice cereal, oatmeal, some little bowls to fix his food in, bananas, etc. It was so interesting to see how different life is here. It was pouring down rain and luckily we were able to catch a taxi back to the hotel.

We will try to post pictures as soon as possible.

Leaving Beijing

Here is the latest on Tracy and Jeremiah:

Yesterday we visited the Jade Factory, The Great Wall, The Olympic Park (the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube where Michael Phelps swam in the Olympics), and a Chinese Acrobat Show. We had another traditional Chinese lunch - it was very good. Last night, we went to Pizza Hut with some of the other American families. Tracy is very happy because she gets to spend time with all of the little girls :)

We slept great last night! We just finished eating breakfast in the hotel. We are leaving Beijing and flying to our son's province, Zhengzhou, around noon today. We have about an hour and a half flight and then we will drive to our hotel. There are 35 people with us, so we're enjoying getting to know the other families and children. This morning I got to hold Julia Day, a 3 year old that was adopted as an infant. She sang some beautiful songs to me and it really made my heart long to hold Phillips.

All of the babies and kids (one year olds through 13 year olds) will be brought to the registration office tomorrow afternoon to meet us. The best part of our trip so far has been that we got to spend out 40 minutes talking with one of the adopted girls, she is 13, and is from the same orphanage as our son. We were so blessed to have two translators with us and we stood together at the Olympic park and I got to ask all kinds of questions. The girl hadn't smiled the whole time but when she found out we were adopting a little boy from her orphanage, she lit up. The older children help take care of the younger ones, and our son was one of the babies she took care of.

She said she plays with him everyday! She must have told the translator 5 times, to tell me that he is "chubby"...he is "fat" and she would puff out her cheeks to show us with a huge smile. She said over 100 babies/children live in their orphanage. They give him one bottle in the morning and fish soup for lunch. When I asked what else they eat, she said "sometimes we get rice". She also told us at 10am and 3pm they sometimes get "cake" but I think that was changed in translation. I asked if our baby ever got to play outside and she said, "no, the mommy - the nanny- gives them some little toys to play with in the room." She also shared that our son is very terrified of men, and she pointed to Jeremiah and said "he is soooo tall, your baby will be scared of him". She also shared that our baby was very "unlucky" and now he is "lucky" because he will be with an American family who loves him so much. The orphanage has been telling our son, that he is going to America on Monday (we will get him Monday) and that he is a "very lucky boy". The 13 year old girl had tears in her eyes and smiled at me and kept saying, "I knew you were coming to get him, but I didn't know I would get to meet you. He is so lucky. Now he will have love."

We will try to post pictures and an update as soon as possible when we get him!

Busy in China!!

Hello, this is Tabitha, once again. I received another e-mail from Tracy tonight. She writes: Good morning from Beijing, China. Yesterday we visited Tienanmen Square. The presidential brigade went through while we were there! It was a
beautiful day despite the heavy smog covering. We toured the forbidden city for hours. We went to lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant...we sampled many dishes: duck soup, steamed cauliflower, pork meatballs, sliced beef, sprouts, rice, etc. Jeremiah had a Chinese beer and I had a coca light - diet coke. We also toured the silk factory and watched how they spin the silk. I bought a watch from a "mosquito" street vendor for two dollars because we spent the first day not knowing what time it was because we are so used to our laptops and cell phones. We also experienced a rickshaw ride - very fun. We toured a traditional Chinese home...no bathroom! They have to use the public toilet that about 10 families share down the street. Some of the homes do have solar showers (I thought of my mom - she has a solar shower on her deck to shower off when you get out of the lake).

Today we will visit the great wall, the jade factory, the bird's nest and the
water cube (Olympic swimming). This is our last night in Beijing. Tomorrow we
will fly to Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan. There are 35 Americans in our group! We will all travel together and they will bring the babies to use at the
registration office. I say "babies" but some families are adopting toddlers, like us, and older children. There are a mixture of boys and girls being adopted, all with special needs, some very mild and some more severe. Many of the families have been here before and are returning to adopt their second Chinese child.

We have enjoyed getting to know the other families. We have been surrounded by some great men and women of faith. I will share more when we get back.

First Day in China

Hi everyone! This is Tabitha, again. Tracy e-mailed me regarding their first day in China and I wanted to share the details. She e-mailed me around 8pm tonight, but its already Friday morning in China. To start their day, they had a gourmet breakfast of both American and Chinese foods. Later, she and Jeremiah went for a walk and took some pictures. They have plans to visit Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the silk factory today. Sounds like they're staying busy! She says that lots of American families are with them and I'm sure that's comforting and reassuring! I'll keep posting as updates come in.

And the Journey Begins!

Hello, this is Tabitha, a friend of Tracy's. She asked me to post an update, so here goes... Tracy and Jeremiah left their house right on time this morning. I dropped them off at Atlanta airport around 6:45. Their flight departed around 9:00 EST and they safely landed in Chicago around 11:30 CST. They are experiencing a seven hour delay and will be departing for Beijing at 6:30pm CST tonight. If they don't experience any further delays, they will be arriving in Beijing at 8:30pm Thursday (China time).

Pouring in...

Today during our staff meeting a story was shared about a group of farmers who planted crops and they finally saw clouds in the sky, and they were filled with a sense of relief because they thought the clouds were going to bring them rain, but they didn't.

Jeremiah and I have been a journey, similar to farmers who plant crops and wait. We've been waiting patiently. However, unlike the farmers who saw the clouds that never brought rain, God has provided for us. Our home has been filled with visitors over the past two days, people have been posting to our fb pages (sorry we are never on fb and just finally saw the messages on our shared email account), we've received unexpected prayers, gifts, meals, and finanacial support.

We hope to be able to blog while we are in China. The first few days of the trip will be spent traveling and then trying to adjust to the jet lag and time change (China is 14 hours ahead of us). We will be united with Phillips on May 17. We appreciate all of the prayers for Phillips, as this is about him being rescued and having a sense of belonging, love, and hope....a forever family.

Our prayer is that our adoption not be focused on us, but on how God will use Phillips in a great and mighty way. We pray that because of him, we will be connected to people who we would have never been connected to before and that God will do great things through our current and new relationships.