Claiming His Promises

I SO believe in the power of our words....I was up in the night and praying for sweet Kaylee Grace - she had a really rough afternoon yesterday. We ended up needing to use the syringe again to get some prunes down her (she wouldn't touch the bottle with the chinese tea in it - the second she tasted it she swatted it away ;) - so since she hadn't had a bowel movement yet our guide told us we needed to do something. Brodie held her while I tried to get the syringe into her clenched mouth - I'm telling you she is crazy strong for her little size! Anyway, we got some down but after that she just shut completely down - back to whimpering and covering her face with the back of her hand and anytime Brodie would come anywhere near she'd just start screaming. She refused to eat for the rest of the day...it felt like we went backwards. So as I was praying in the night I just felt it on my heart to speak LIFE over her - speak it, pray it and BELIEVE it for her. This verse in Deuteronomy came to my mind...we have been given the power to speak life and the power to speak death. "This day I call Heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now CHOOSE LIFE, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life..." Deuteronomy 30:19-20. And this verse in John as well ~ where Jesus is calling His disciples to come and follow Him and here is how He calls the apostle Peter: "Jesus looked at him and said, 'You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas' (which, when translated, is Peter)." John 1:42. Cephas in Aramic and Peter in Greek  mean "a rock". Although much of the time that Jesus walked and taught His disciples for those 3 years of earthly ministry before His death, Peter would not likely have been characterized as a "rock"...after all, he was the one who denied knowing Jesus 3 times. But Jesus was not calling Peter by a name that characterized who he was right then, but rather who he would be in Christ.....Jesus, the One "who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were." Rom 4:17 Jesus was telling Peter "Simon is who you are right now; but I will call you Cephas (Peter) because in Me you will be a rock!" And what a ROCK he was after Jesus rose to life!!!    "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17  I'm so thankful that we have a Savior who calls us not as we were without Him... but rather as we are IN HIM! This all came flooding to my mind this morning as I was praying for Kaylee Grace - I don't need to worry about her past and how it has affected her and what effect it will have on her life, I don't need to worry if she will eat or not or if she will bond and attach well.....because in HIM she is a NEW CREATION. The old HAS GONE. The new HAS COME! All the bonding and attachment that needs to happen, all the catching up she has ahead of her developmentally, all the freedom from fear...all of it has already been done! "But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" 1 Cor. 15:57.  I'm so thankful for His Holy Spirit to guide us - I'd be a big mess without Him leading and guiding me! From that moment on, I knew He has already done all that needs to be done and I can just rest in Him and speak it over her! So today she has been hearing, "Kaylee is such a good eater! You can play so well! Kaylee loves Mommy and Daddy - you feel so safe with us!" Over and over because I know it's true! She has made great progress today again....it is so wonderful to see! She took her bottle this morning (we even snuck a bit of the chinese tea into it) and she had a bowel movement...poor little thing was just so uncomfortable before and you could tell how great she felt afterwards!

Taking her morning bottle!

Here she is just after breakfast playing:

We went down to the lobby to meet our group (we had a fun day of sightseeing today!) When Rebecca saw her she commented on how great she looked (her hair and skin - Rebecca has been so worried about the Suixi kids as they just aren't properly taken care of in so many ways - she had us buy lotion for our orphanage gift because the kids there have such dry and flaky skin). Then she noticed how much more alert she looked and she could tell that she was not as shut down today (every other time we went out people would just think she was tired because she would look half asleep but Rebecca knew it was just her trying to cope). Then she gave her a little tickle and look what we got out of her:

A small smile :)

And a giggle! Too cute!!! Our whole group was watching her and so excited because they have seen that she has just had a harder time then their little ones - it was a pretty big deal!!!

And then we got another when we came back from out sightseeing:

Tell me that's not just the best sound ever!!! We each took our turns tickling her and getting a little giggle from her :)  Sweetest sound ever!!!



After this we had Rebecca come to our room to help us cut Kaylee's nails (she said we had to do it even if Kaylee hates it and fights it - she told us, "I'm a tough Mama - I will do it!" and she did - it was much better for her to be the bad guy and not us!  Here is Miss Kaylee Grace after with Rebecca:

Not too happy but finally her claws are gone. 

Rebecca wants us to brush her teeth too (she has a lot of gunk just stuck on them) but we will try that another time ;) After all the crying she was ready for a nap ---

Look at her sweaty hair! Always sweating ;)

Such a sweetie! And a great napper so far!

Brodie went and got lunch for us all and brought it back to our room while Rebecca was cutting the nails ~ here is what everyone else did while Kaylee napped and I blogged

We went to the Chen Ancestral Museum and learned a lot of Chinese History!

This man did this artwork with the side of his hand and his pinky - amazing to watch!

Chen Ancestral Hall

These cutties were the only white haired kids there - which meant that people were all staring and wanting to take pictures. Kolson got caught outside on his way in by a couple groups of people that wanted pictures...then Sis got caught inside :) Not their favorite thing but the were troopers!

Amazing to see

Fake people that looked so real

Brodie feeding Kaylee Grace her bottle! 

My favorite part was the Tea Ceremony - so fun! They made many different samples of tea for us - Keeg and I were the only ones who wanted to do the taste testing. Kaylee took a nap ... with a toy in her hand ;)

Rebecca made sure that we got to taste all of the best teas - real Chinese tea is really so much better than ours! 

Tea Ceremony Table

They always have an orchid by their tea tables

On our way out

With our travel group

A China Passport Doll for Kaylee that we got at the Chen Ancestral Hall

A mini Chinese tea set for Kaylee

A picture of the Mei Hua (Mei flower) which is the chinese flower (NOT a cherry blossom as I called it! I got scolded for calling it that because the cherry blossom is actually Japan's flower...oops!) 

One of the pieces of artwork that gentleman did