'Twas the Night before Christmas...

Christmas 2013 at the Gregg house resembled a whirlwind of wrapping paper, bows, toys and food tossed into a wood chipper and strewn all over the house.   I’m still wading through boxes and tiny toy pieces trying to create some semblance of order in our living room.  Not sure if it will happen before 2014.

I know this blog has been SERIOUSLY neglected because I really did not have much to tell…BUT I DO NOW!

On Christmas Eve we received the most wonderful news!  China granted us our Letter Seeking Confirmation.  McKenna is ours! We signed our acceptance letter and John FedEx'd the letter and our Visa applications so Monday morning our adoption coordinator can get everything out the door and put us one step closer to travelling.  Based on other adoptive families’ timelines, it looks like our target to travel is now March.

Chinese New Year is January 31^st this year, so we won’t have to worry about working travel around this crazy busy time in China.  The weather in China is also pretty moderate in March.  In Beijing (North) the daytime high averages 51 degrees and in Guangzhou (South), where McKenna lives, it is around 71 degrees in the day with 50% chance of rain.  As long as we pack an umbrella, I think we will be fine.

So, needless to say, it was a Very Merry Christmas for the Gregg Gang!

Here’s to an amazing New Year filled with joy, love, laughter and a new set of tiny feet in our home!

Love,

Marlo

McKenna Faith

I’ve agonized about how to re-start this blog.  I weighed applying for a brand new blog site name with just keeping this one going and, after a lot of consideration; I chose to continue this blog.  Someday I will want McKenna to read this story, her story, and she deserves to know how it all began.

Once upon a time, there was a family who deeply yearned for another baby girl.  The mommy searched day after day for a little playmate for their youngest child.  She scoured the websites and adoption blogs and finally found an adorable little girl, dressed in pink, who looked like she would fit in nicely.  The whole family grew excited about the new child until the horrible news came…she could not be a part of their family because she was very, very sick.

The family grieved and cried and prayed.  They built walls around their hearts and were not sure if they could move forward with another adoption.

Then, after some time had passed, the mommy and daddy decided to dip their toes back in the water to see how it felt.  Several files and pictures passed across their computer screens – but their hearts just couldn’t say yes.  Then late, late one night a phone call came.  It was “Heidi the Stork,” and she wanted the mommy and daddy to see a very special little girl.  This little girl was so perfect that the daddy immediately proclaimed this would be their daughter.  The mommy looked into the sad, vacant eyes of this beautiful child and realized she truly needed a family…their family…and she said yes too.

And so begins the story of McKenna Faith Gregg.  Born in China and waiting for her Forever Family to come bring her home.

 

We let our "hearts" go...

This weekend, in between torrential down pours, we headed to the park and said our good byes to Kenzie.  I let everyone have a chance to write down what they wanted to say.  Maddie drew a picture of her and her sister Kenzie.  Codi was sweet and wished her well.  Daddy wanted her to know she would always be in his heart.  But it was Carter who broke my heart.  Carter couldn't write anything.  All he could do was cry and ask me to let his balloon go for him.

The sky was gorgeous with fluffy clouds ready to release their droplets at any second.  We heard thunder in the distance and then it was quiet.  In fact, it was eerily quiet.  With a gentle breeze we let our little red hearts and messages go....up, up, up they climbed and headed South over Black Mountain.  We watched them float until we couldn't make out the little specks anymore.  It was beautiful and sad.

I wish I could tell you that it healed my heart...but it didn't.

Samantha is in Texas, so she couldn't be there to release a balloon.  But she did send me this beautiful song to help me through.  Love you to the moon and back Sissy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO36F--Vn1g

Love,
Mommy

"Breathe.
Listen for my footfall in your heart.
I am not gone but merely walk within you."
                                                     ~Nicholas Evans

 

Breathe.  Breathing. Just trying to take a breath.  Breathing should be automatic, so it comes as a surprise to me that I have had to remind myself to breathe today.

We lost our baby girl last night.  Mackenzie Faith Gregg was deemed “unadoptable” by Chinese adoption officials.  Her medical record will now show she has acute cerebral palsy and is also severely mentally retarded.  This combination has resulted in our inability to bring our daughter home.  We had no say in it.  They just made the decision and passed their judgment.

My family is in a state of relentless grief that rolls across each person like a wave, dragging them under, and then releasing them long enough to catch their breath, before being pulled under again.  I can’t stop crying.  Carter has turned inward.  Codi has found solace in sleep.  Sam is leaning heavily on her friends.  Thank God for Taylor and Katie!  John needs to stay “busy” and keeps disappearing.  We haven’t told Maddie yet…….

All of our friends and family have been so supportive and wonderful the past five months since we started on this journey to bring Kenzie home, so I wanted you all to know what is happening. 

Please say a prayer for our baby in China who will never know a mommy and daddy or play with brothers and sisters.  Pray someone there holds her and loves her and she never suffers.

Thank you for your love and understanding during this sad and disappointing time.  We all just need some time to BREATHE.

Love,

Marlo

When it RAINS it POURS!

I have SO MUCH to share with everyone.  First of all, I’ve been a little bummed lately because we wanted to see pictures of Mackenzie so badly from her birthday party and it appeared we weren’t going to get any and THEN…20 pictures came through!  Thank you, thank you Ladybugs N Love!  Angela and Kelly are angels and managed to get the orphanage to forward a whopping 20 pictures from her special day.  According to our adoption agency, this is an unheard of amount of photos!  Here is my favorite:

This all came after we also received new photos and an update from Lindsay and Mark, who just traveled to China to pick up their little girl, Julia. 

Mark is a PA, and he did a quick assessment of Kenzie’s eyes and gave us the great news, that in his opinion, she does not have nystagmus but probably estropia (crossed-eyes).  This is totally treatable and just became the least of our concerns!  So YEAH, right?  Not so fast…the pictures have raised a few eyebrows around here and we are doing our best to stay upbeat and positive and believe that the Lord put this little girl in our lives because we can handle whatever comes our way.  Her little clenched fists, lack of muscle tone and floppy head have us wondering; what actually is her special need?  Regardless…we LOVE this little girl and we think she is AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL!  (P.S.  I totally forgive Mark for thinking she was a boy – in his defense the outfit and hair are questionable.)

Here are some more birthday pictures – Happy 1^st Birthday Baby Girl!

I’m not sure she is enjoying this!  It sorta looks like she is being “cake boarded.”

Funny note about the pictures – notice the little one in the walker?  Oh yeah!  It’s the photo bomber again!!!  Turns out, she’s not our baby – she just resembles our pumpkin and obviously has a real issue with sabotaging pictures at the orphanage.  Sam says, “Someone is a little narcissistic.”  But we’re sure there’s a family out there who will love that about her.

So, while we were blessed with a deluge of pictures, we were cursed with downpour of rain.  Check out Lake Gregg on the patio:

We’ve had thunder, lightning and rain every day this weekend.  It makes for a nice muggy mess.

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In other news, I had the honor of being able to deliver a huge care package to our friend Brian and his daughter, Sierra.  As I mentioned before, Sierra is beginning her fight against Stage 3 ovarian cancer.  Angie, Michelle and I went over to the house to bring gift cards, cash, snacks and gifts to the whole family to help support them through this trying time.  Sierra’s smile touched my heart and filled the room with light.  It was the strangest thing, I thought I would leave sad, but I felt stronger after visiting with her.  Please say a prayer for Sierra and her family.

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Hope you have a wonderful week!  I know these two girls sure will....

 Love,
Marlo

The little photo bomber!

7/21/13 - OOPS!  Turns out this is not OUR little photo bomber - just the orphanage photo bomber - check out the next post!

I’ve been sort of depressed since finding out we probably would not get pictures of Kenzie’s birthday party or any questions answered.  I spoke to our adoption agency the other day and they told me they would try and ask for some updates once our paperwork was in China and logged in.

I think the man upstairs realized I needed a little pick-me-up and he sent it to me in the form of another China mom – Shelly R.  Shelly was going through her adoption trip pictures from April and happened across this picture, which she posted on Facebook with a note that read:  “I thought the little one in walker maybe belonged to Marlo Gregg!”  Guess what?

SHE WAS RIGHT!!!!!!! And here she is!

Shelly was trying to get a picture of little girl at the table (Charlotte) and got photo bombed by Kenzie!  This girl is going to fit in just fine!


Love,
Marlo

 

Fingerprints & Family Freaking Fun Time!

On July 3rd, before we hit the road, John and I headed over to the Homeland Security building to get our fingerprints done.  As I've mentioned before, we are old pros at his part.  It took 15 minutes from when we walked in to when we walked out.  The folks inside were super nice and commented how unusual it was to have someone born in the USA getting fingerprinted.  Not many people adopt from foreign countries in Nevada - we are a bit of an anomaly.  This suits us just fine. ♡

Well, due to summer school and work and Sam's return to Texas Tech, we chose to vacation in Salt Lake City, Utah for our family vacation.  We had the two best tour guides anyone could ask for...Uncle Rich and Miss Amanda.  Although we had a few bumps along the way, we had a nice time and got to see some beautiful country and spend time with friends.  We also escaped the heat in Vegas, but traded it for humidity in Utah.  I don't think I've sweat that much in a long time! 

The joke in our family is that when the children are being cranky and ungrateful, John and I tell them THIS IS FAMILY FREAKING FUN TIME...YOU WILL TURN THOSE FROWNS UPSIDE DOWN AND START HAVING FUN...OR ELSE!  Hee hee, I hope everyone has picked up on Mommy's love of sarcasm.

The drive from our house to Salt Lake is about 6 hours and we were entertained by some interesting sights...and smells...along the way.  Besides the usual boys tooting in the car, we were all subjected to the raunchiest smell any of us have EVER smelled...dead pig!  Seriously!  First we thought someone was in gastric distress, then we blamed Codi's stinky sneakers but then John noticed the garbage truck...with two pig legs sticking straight up in the back of the truck bed!  It would have only better if the pig's hooves had pinwheels taped to them...whee...whee...wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Our first night in town we visited Mike, Nancy and Liv in their beautiful new home.  It is humongous!! Their home is stunning and so is the neighborhood they live in.  It was so neat to see deer right in their backyard.
 

On the 4th of July we celebrated Independence Day with a round of putt putt golf, the batting cages and a stop at the "Up" house.  The owners were nice enough to let us take a few pictures.

 

We also saw the new movie "Despicable Me 2"...let me say LOVED IT!  I want a purple minion!  Oh wait; I have a purple minion...Maddie!

 

 

We were also treated to some of the most amazing fireworks on the BYU campus.  Uncle Rich's family saved us great seats and it felt like we could reach out and touch them!

 

On Friday we headed to Park City, home of the 2002 Winter Olympics.  We had a blast riding the downhill coaster and Mom and Dad experienced their first zip line ride.  What a thrill!  The coaster was a bobsled-like ride that is totally gravity propelled.  You have a lever that controls how fast or slow you go.  Mommy rode with Maddie, who is a freaking daredevil in disguise as a sweet, little Asian baby.  When we started I said, "Do you want me to slow down", and she screamed, "Go FASTER Mommy!!!!!!!!!" So I barely touched the brakes and she squealed with delight the whole way down the mountain.  When we were almost to the end she yelled at the top of her lungs, "You are the BEST Mommy ever! Thank you for bringing me here!"  The bummer of the day was it starting pouring and lightning, which meant they had to shut down the rides.  We paid a lot of money for just a couple of rides, so Daddy did his best to get some of our money back, but we all wished we could've rode more.

Saturday was zoo and shopping day.  First we headed out to the Hogle Zoo.  It's a small but nice zoo.  I got a lot of neat pictures, but we had to laugh at the monkeys...they all seemed to be a bit...aroused.  Most of the monkey pictures are not appropriate to be shared. :(

Then we headed out to shop...oh yeah!  We hit Tai Pan (seriously, why do we not have one in Vegas?) and I picked up a couple things for the nursery.  Then on to the coolest store I've ever been in - IKEA!  Fun, fun, fun!  The little kids got to play in the playroom while we shopped. Awesome.  I found a cute rug for Kenzie's room and Sam picked up some stuff for her dorm.  Our last stop before dinner was Scheel's sporting goods store.  As stores go, it was ok and had a lot of sporty stuff, but Amanda, Nancy and the kids and I enjoyed our ferris wheel ride...in the middle of the store!  It was relaxing and a great way to see the entire store.

Dinner was an epicurean delight!  We ate at Tocanos, a Brazilian steak house, with Rich's family.  When we finally got up from the tables two hours later, we could hardly move because the food was so delicious.  We also met another family visiting from Texas who are adopting from China too. It's a small and wonderful world we live in.

So now we are on the road again heading back home to our puppies, which Maddie has told us everyday she misses.  Hopefully we will receive an email this week that our fingerprints were accepted and the last piece of paper from the NV Secretary of State will be in the mailbox.  Baby steps closer to bringing Kenzie home.

OUR "DAY" IN THE GORGE

 

I thought my blog post was complete and then...we hit the gorge.  It appears we will be spending an entire day here!  Two lanes of traffic...m-o-v-i-n-g S-L-O-W-L-Y.  It's times like this that the genius comes out of our children.  We get questions like, "what happened?" and "how long is this going to take to get out of here?"  Um....yeah, let me consult my crystal ball.  John then informed me we had travelled two miles in ONE HOUR!  Ugh!  We are making the most of it by listening to Maddie singing Taylor Swift and Katy Perry songs.  As it turns out, it was road work on the right lane of traffic for just a few feet that was slowing things down.  Really Arizona? 

 

To everything there is a season… A time to be born, and a time to die…

This has been a tough week for Mommy and her friends.  We’ve had to deal with a lot of loss and bad news.  My dear friend Paula had to put Rebel, her furry companion of 16 years, down.  We also had a friend from work receive horrible news that his beautiful 10-year-old daughter has a form of very aggressive ovarian cancer.  Prayers for her and her family would really be appreciated. 

The hardest news this week to handle though, was the loss of little Teresa Bartlinski.  She was an amazing little girl, adopted from China, with a bad heart and lungs.  She finally got her new heart, but her little body just couldn’t adjust to it, and she passed away surrounded by her loving family on Monday afternoon.  It just breaks my heart.  I can’t even imagine how her parents must feel.  I fell in love with this child.  She touched my heart and I don’t think I’ll ever forget her.

So, today I came to work and I prayed that something wonderful would happen.  I just needed good news.  Boy, did it start flowing in!  Last night Brian B. (friend/co-worker) proposed to his girlfriend (my hairdresser) and she said YES!  Then I found out another friend/co-worker Jason R. is expecting baby #2 with his wife.  And even though I already knew, it should be mentioned, my other friend/co-worker Jason W. and beautiful bride are also expecting baby #2!  Babies make me happy.  I mean, how can you be sad when you have a baby around?

I also had the cutest little visitor this morning at work!  Daddy brought Maddie by to pick up my truck and wash it before we head to Utah tomorrow!  What a nice surprise!

Look at my baby - how cute!  In case you forgot.

The girls made Mommy a present too – I know you are all jealous of my sun catcher.  Maddie can be hired out on commission.

I also want to brag on the Codi-meister!  He got an “A” on the first half of his summer school!!!!  Rock on Codi!

Happy Fourth of July!

Marlo

Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny…C.S. Lewis

Yesterday was my 45^th birthday and I had an amazing day!  My friends at work decorated my cubicle and showered me with love all day – I am the luckiest girl in the world!  I loved everything, except maybe the awkward 80’s big hair cake, and I won’t soon forget my special day.  Love you guys!

 So, I thought I would check on Mackenzie’s birthday party and pictures and updated information that I ordered through the sweet ladies at Ladybugs ‘N Love.  I received this email in response:

I mailed the care package to the orphanage, but it got lost. I then sent money to the orphanage and asked them to buy a cake and some fruit or candies to have a party. They agreed to send me pictures of the party. Today they told me they would only provide information to agencies, no longer giving us updates. So we will refund your money for the orphanage phone call. I am hoping for the pictures of the party as they didn’t say they will not send pictures of the party. I will keep you updated.

This is NOT what I wished for yesterday!  All I wanted was to get a little information, like how much she weighed and what foods she likes.  Now I’m not even sure we will get a picture.  It seems lately we are hitting one snag after another – thus the choice for the title today.  Hardships.  I try to tell myself that the Lord does not give us more than we can bear…but SERIOUSLY? He must be the King of comedy and be more sarcastic than even me.  In fact, let me be crystal clear here – I’VE HAD ENOUGH.

To try and take my mind off everything I’m taking the kids to see Monsters University at the Galaxy Theatre with the recliner chairs.  Maybe a little popcorn and chocolate covered raisins will help?

Hardships?  What hardships?

Love,

Marlo

I’ve been fingerprinted more than a criminal!

There are a lot of hoops to jump through when you are adopting.  First, you have to fill out more paperwork than buying a house, a car and filing taxes combined.  Then you have to submit to having every aspect of your life critiqued like your finances, your family history, and your medical history, which includes sharing all the gory details of your inability to procreate little humans on your own.  Anther fun piece of the puzzle is being fingerprinted.  Now, my hubby and I are both military veterans and hubby proudly wears a police officer’s badge to work, so we are no strangers to rolling our digits over the pad for identification purposes.  Fact is, we have been fingerprinted more than most of the repeat offenders my hubby has tossed in jail, which makes it ridiculous that I got so excited about getting our appointment to be fingerprinted AGAIN by Homeland Security.  Our appointment is July 3^rd.  We tried going in early, giving them our sad orphan story, looking forlorn, even tossing the “professional courtesy for another officer” crap that hubby sometimes uses. Nothing!  They would not budge.  We were told to come back on July 3^rd and have a nice day.  Bite me Homeland Security!  I could easily find 10 places our fingerprints are on file with the government.  Heck, we both held the highest Top Security clearances in the military.  We aren’t trying to bring drugs in the country – just one small baby.

So anyway, we have our appointment on July 3^rd.

I also received back our paperwork from the Nevada Secretary of State minus one important paper.  It seems I actually sent a form with a notary stamp, but no signature.  Really?  How in heck did I let that slip?  Now I have to re-mail it and wait a few more weeks for that piece.  Murphy and his stupid Law are getting on my every last good nerve.

I haven’t heard anything about pictures from Kenzie’s birthday cake – but I promise to share the second I get them.  I also made contact with another Mom who is on her way to China to pick up her baby who is in the same orphanage as Mackenzie.  With any luck she will be able to see her and get a picture.  I asked her to hold her if she had the chance and let her know that Mommy is coming and we love her so much!

Super exciting news!  Maddie read me a book last night!  8 whole pages!  Don’t laugh, everyone starts out small.  She is crazy smart and so beautiful.  I love coming home after work and hearing “MOMMY!”

Codi is doing great in summer school and is trying his hardest to get an “A” so he doesn’t have to pay me back for the class.  Great incentive!  He also got his top braces off today and should have the bottoms off next month.

Before I close, let me share a wonderful family and their beautiful princess, Teresa, who is fighting to be well.  Here is the link to their blog page:

http://ourplacecalledhome.blogspot.com/

Love,

Marlo

So are the days of our lives...

Although this blog is to primarily document Mackenzie’s adoption, I want to keep everyone up on the rest of the family too.  We all are handling Kenzie’s birthday in different ways.  Mommy has taken to breaking down at work and sobbing.  Maddie asked me if I was getting Kenzie today, which started the sob fest. Daddy has decided to clean the garage in 100+ degree weather.  Sissy posted a sweet note on Facebook and the boys, well, they are boys.  I got to work this morning and my dear friend and co-worker, Kirstie, had left these beautiful flowers and a card on my desk. 

Thanks to everyone who stopped by my desk to wish Mackenzie a Happy Birthday and check on me! I have the best job and friends!

Here’s a little run down of how the beginning of our summer has been going: 

Codi is taking English 9 in summer school and his first week has been pretty good.  He likes his teacher, and so do I.  She only gives homework if the kids scribble and rush through, so Codi has been trying really hard to do his best work.  Here is a sidewalk chalk self-portrait he did on the driveway.  Awesome, huh?

Carter finished 6^th grade with all A’s and B’s on his report card – yeah Carter!  Most of Carter’s days and nights revolve around playing with his friend Dylan, talking to Dylan, spending the night with Dylan, swimming with Dylan, shopping with Dylan or to switch things up a little, having Dylan spend the night or having Dylan swim with us.  Oh - to be young with absolutely no responsibilities in the world.  Any spare time he has is spent swimming and working on his ridiculously gorgeous tan.

Sam dropped the bomb on us that she is going to join the Navy if all the stars align properly for her plan to work.  Once she applies and is accepted to a Master’s program for Occupational Therapy, she will contact her recruiter to see if they have any spaces available in the Navy’s program to help pay for her college.  If they have a spot, and accept her, she will go into the Navy upon graduation as an officer and serve four years.  We are super proud of her – of course we wish it was the Air Force, but they don’t have this program – and we can’t wait to see her in dress whites.

Maddie is trying to learn to read this summer since she starts Kindergarten in August.  She’s doing great, with a lot of help from Sam, but still guesses a lot.  It goes something like this:

SAM - “Sound out the letters Maddie.”

MADDIE - “F - Ffffff”

MADDIE - “O - ahahahahah”

MADDIE - “X - exxxxxxxxxx”

SAM - “Ok, now put it all together.”

MADDIE - “Fffffffffahahahahahahexxxxxxxx” “Fffffffffahahahahahahexxxxxxxx” “Fffffffffahahahahahahexxxxxxxx”

SAM - “What does it spell?”

MADDIE - “Squirrel!”

What??? UGH!!! 

Due to summer school our vacation plans had to be adjusted, so instead of California, we are heading to Utah for the 4^th of July with Uncle Rich and Miss Amanda.  We are going to the zoo and the Olympic Park and hopefully we will have some cool pictures to share.

And speaking of Uncle Rich…Great News!  John and Rich will continue working together for another year on the same shift.  They just held shift bid, and we were a little worried they might get split up, but everything worked out and we went out celebrated with FLUFF ICE!  They are here for one week and Rich and I couldn’t wait to have some, in fact, Rich woke Amanda up on Monday morning asking when we could go.  Yum-yum!

I think I covered everyone…except maybe the puppies…Shelby and Jazzy are just as sweet as ever…see?

 

Marlo

Happy Birthday 1st Mackenzie Faith

Musings of a mom-to-be on her baby's birthday.

Kenzie my love, this is not how Mommy and Daddy wanted to celebrate your birthday.  If you were here sweet girl, in my arms, where you should be, and will be soon, I would have snuck into your room and gently scooped you up out of your crib and sat in a chair with you.  I would gaze admiringly at your beautiful features like your sweet, chubby cheeks and perfect lips and your gorgeous chocolate brown eyes shaped like little almonds.  I would almost whisper, but sing Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Mackenzie, Happy Birthday to you.

Mommy LOVES birthdays.  I love shopping for the perfect gifts, and wrapping them, and then watching as the person opens it to see if I've really found what they truly wanted.  My birthday is next week - six days after your special day - and the only present that I really want is YOU!  I want to bury my face in your hair, kiss you all over, snuggle you and hold you close.  I honestly know what it feels to literally ACHE to hold someone.

I promise - next year you will have an amazing 2nd birthday party surrounded by family and friends.  We are all so anxious to meet you and hold you and spoil you little girl. I hope you get the cake and letter we sent.  We love you Kenzie girl.  Happy Birthday!

Love,
Mom

A little news is better than no news, right?

I know, I know.  I promised to be better about posting, and obviously, I’m not keeping my word.  L

The good news is - I have news!  Our home study is complete and I sent our documents to the Nevada Secretary of State to be certified and also mailed our I-800a paperwork to the USCIS office in Texas.  I’ve already received an email letting me know the USCIS office has logged us in and we should be receiving our fingerprinting appointment within 7 to 10 days.  Hopefully the papers from the Secretary of State will be here soon too, and then we will be one step closer to sending our dossier to China.

June 20^th is Kenzie’s birthday, so I am working on having a birthday cake sent to her.  With any luck we will also receive pictures!  I’ve been reaching out to lots of families via Facebook and Yahoo Groups.  Many of these folks have already adopted children from China or in the process like we are.  I even found a group who have adopted, or are adopting, children from the same orphanage as Kenzie.  Maybe we can ask another family to check on her while they are picking up their child.

There’s a lot that’s been happening around the house the past few weeks.  Both boys finished school and passed all their classes.  Codi will be a junior in high school and Carter will be a big 7^th grader.  Maddie graduated from Preschool and had a cute ceremony.  It’s crazy to think she will be in Kindergarten this August.

Here are some pictures from Maddie’s ceremony:

Daddy, Maddie and Mommy

Isn't she just beautiful!

Maddie and her friend

Marlo