Journey to Julianna

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, BABY GIRL!!

2010-04-17T21:37:00.001-07:00

Julianna,

I can't believe that you are already 2 years old! Time is going by so fast and you are growing up before our eyes. You are such a precious and beautiful gift from God. I sometimes still can't believe that all our prayers have been answered and all our dreams have come true. You are such a blessing to your Mama and Daddy. It is so rewarding to see you learn new words and new things. Every day for you is a new adventure and you make me enjoy the simple things in life like when you chase after the sky or blow a dandelion. I took so many things for granted before you were here, but now the simple things in life mean so much more.

I want you to know that even though I wasn't there physically for your birth and for your 1st birthday, you have always been in my heart. I promise that I will be there for every birthday that you have for the rest of my life. You may have been born in China but you grew in my heart.

Happy birthday, sweet baby girl!!

I love you more than I can say!

Mama

Opening birthday presents

Mama, Daddy, and Julianna

Waiting patiently for birthday cake

I LOVE buttercream as much as my Mama!

Playing in the backyard with family

Princess Julianna

Pushing her baby around in her new stroller

Easter Pictures

2010-04-16T20:23:00.001-07:00

Dyeing eggs with cousins

Will and Julianna

Eating candy with Sarah Beth

Mimi helping Julianna find an Easter egg

The Jernigan family on Easter

One Year Ago

2010-04-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been one year since receiving our referral of Julianna. I can remember pretty much everything about that day from checking the Rumor Queen website constantly all morning to racing home with Ed from work to get "the call". She was the most beautiful baby we have ever seen. We could see in her eyes from the very first picture that she was strong willed and she definitely is that. She is everything we wanted in a child and more. I have said it before but I would go through everything all over again to have my sweet baby girl. She is a gift to us and to our family.

One verse I held on to for years was Romans 8:28 - "All things work together for good to those who love God to those who are the called according to His purpose." It doesn't say all things ARE good but that they work together for good. There were many things that happened to us and to Julianna that weren't good, but God used the bad things to bring us together as a family.

Here are Julianna's referral pictures we received on April 3, 2009:

Here she is on April 3, 2010:

Christmas Pictures

2009-12-25T18:01:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of our 1st Christmas together. We were all really sick with pink eye, laryngitis, etc, but it was still wonderful to be the Jernigan family at Christmas. Also, there is a new post under this one about our 1st 6 months home.

Seeing Santa for the 1st time at the FCC Christmas party

Seeing Santa for the 1st time at the FCC Christmas party

After she got her present from Santa, she QUICKLY got out of his lap!

Christmas morning

Christmas morning

Christmas morning

Christmas morning

We have been a family 6 months today!

2009-12-07T21:23:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe it has been 6 whole months since we became a family of 3. The time has gone by so fast and then, in other ways, it seems like Julianna has been with us forever. We can't imagine her not being in our lives. As her Mimi said, she is a miracle! We love her more than words can say.

Julianna in China - June 2009

Julianna at Home - December 2009

My Girl

2009-09-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post some bullets to update everybody on how our sweet baby girl is doing:

-Julianna is walking! Not a lot but she is walking some now. She is so proud of herself. She still prefers to crawl since that gets her where she want to go faster.
-She gives the sweetest hugs to us - she will lay her head on our shoulders and pat our backs. Then she will rub our backs. It just melts our hearts.
-She now says "that" when she wants to know what something is. (Sounds more like "dat".) She says "juice" for any kind of drink and shoes which sounds more like "Jews".) Her favorite new word is "cat".
-She can point to her hair, eyes, and mouth. She has a harder time with her nose for some reason.
-When I tell her it's time for her bath, she say "ba". She still loves her bath.
-She LOVES shoes! When she sees her shoes she wants them on immediately! This has us worried that she will be spending lots of money on shoes one day!
-She stayed in the nursery at church for the first time this past Sunday and did great! I think her parents were more worried than she was. :)
-She had her first haircut in the US and didn't like it at all. She didn't cry but whined a lot.
-She loves Baby Einstein videos and learns new words from the videos.
-She loves to swing on her baby swing and take walks in her stroller every day.

We are enjoying every day with her and continue to be thankful to the Lord for this blessing we have been given!

Julianna at 16 months

1st Haircut

My birthday with my baby - my best birthday present ever!

At the park

Just Pictures

2009-08-15T20:41:00.000-07:00

I am so behind on my blogging. It's getting harder and harder to find the time to post with a one year old. Today's post will just be pictures. Enjoy!

Julianna peeking around the corner of the living room

Isn't she beautiful??

Crawling to Mama

Crawling closer and closer to Mama

Hey Mama! I'm right in front of you!

Having Fun in her sandbox before we put sand in it

More fun in the sandbox

Julianna's 1st visit to NASA (Thanks for the pictures, Mark!)

1st Birthday Party and Home One Month

2009-07-22T12:01:00.001-07:00

Since we were not with Julianna on her 1st Birthday on April 17, we decided to have a 1st Birthday Party this past Saturday, July 18. She turned 15 months on July 17 so we thought it was a good time to celebrate! We had a small party with just family. We had pizza, birthday cake (Thanks for getting the cake for us, Mimi!), and homemade ice cream. Julianna didn't really know what to do with the cake so Mama had to help her get started eating the icing. Of course, I didn't mind since I could live off buttercream frosting. :) She had a great time and played with everybody. Some of her big items that she got were a swing set from Mama and Daddy and a sandbox from Mimi and Pop.

Also, we were home one month on Friday and we are continually amazed at the progress Julianna continues to make. She is crawling now and pulling up on us and on furniture. She is so proud of herself! I am sure she will be walking in no time. She can say duck and dog. She loves playing with her cousins and loves to go on walks in her stroller. She can point out my mouth and nose. She has gained 1.5 pounds since coming home according to the doctor's office. We are so blessed to have her in our lives and we thank God for her every day!

Here are some pics of Julianna's birthday party:

Julianna, Mama and Daddy

Julianna getting read to tear into her cake

Julianna and Mama opening presents

Opening presents with cousin Sarah Beth helping

1 Month Ago Today

2009-07-07T20:02:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe that it's been a month, but one month ago God brought Ed, Julianna and I together as a family. Julianna is the most precious child we could have ever asked for and she is perfect for our family. She is learning and growing every day. She is crawling now - well actually it's an army crawl but she can move all around the house like that. She is also sitting up now from being on her stomach and she is standing a lot with us holding on to her or with her holding on to furniture. She is saying dada, mama, and bye bye. We can ask her where her belly button is and she will pull up her shirt and pat her belly. We have also found two things she won't eat - turnip greens and cabbage. She also loves music and will start dancing when she hears it. It seems like every day almost she is learning new things.

If you are in the adoption process, please remember that there is a reason and a plan for why you are waiting. Jesus has a plan. Isaiah 55:8-9 says "For My thoughts are not your thoughts nor are your ways My ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." If it would have been up to us, we would have had a child 5 or 10 years ago. But God had a perfect plan to bring us Julianna. I can honestly say that she was WORTH THE WAIT!

Ed,Julianna and I with her Uncle John, Aunt Melanie and cousins Martin, Steven, and Oliver on the 4th of July

Her shirt says "Daddy's Little Firecracker"

4th of July - Our 1st holiday with Julianna

Time for Bed - Her PJ top says "Hand Picked"

Random things about Julianna

2009-06-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

1. She loves to eat - anything and everything! Green beans, corn, french fries, creamed potatoes, hamburger meat. The only thing she has not liked is ice cream. We think it's too cold for her.
2. She sleeps very deeply for 10-11 hours a night (Her paperwork was right on this one.)
3. She has learned to wave bye-bye, to do patty cake, and she gives us these big open mouth kisses!
4. She finally likes taking a bath after Mama got in with her. She loves to splash and play with her bath toys.
5. She likes the color orange. It's the color of her favorite bath toy and also her favorite page in her "Who Loves Baby" photo album.
6. She likes to swing on the front porch swing and sometimes nestles her head on my chest as we are swinging.
7. She babbles and smiles constantly.
8. She knows her name and always turns when called.
9. She has gotten clingy to Mama lately which of course I LOVE!!
10. She mimics me putting lotion on my hands and brushing her hair. She will touch the lotion bottle and then rub her little hands together. She will also take her little brush and try to brush her hair.
11.She is the most BEAUTIFUL baby in the world! (OK, I am a little biased.)

Julianna and Mama with her cousins, Anna and Sarah Beth

Julianna and Daddy with her cousin, Will

I love this picture of my little angel!

The Jernigans on our 1st Sunday at our church

WE'RE HOME!!!!

2009-06-20T20:46:00.001-07:00

We got home late Wednesday night and it is so good to be in our home with Julianna! After travelling for about 29 hours straight, we were greeted at the airport by our family and friends. It was so good to see everybody although Ed and I agreed that we are not sure what we even said to anybody due to sheer exhaustion. Julianna was very good on the long flight from Shanghai to Atlanta and slept a good bit of the time. It was so sweet to get home and have signs up in the neighborhood and in our home welcoming us and Julianna and a Build-A-Bear was in her room from her friends Cody and Lily. I also heard that one of my friends who I won't name (Joy Hetler) actually picked the lock of our house by using a card! I am wondering if she has done that before. :)

I want to say a special thank you to my sister Trina for keeping my blog up while we were in China and couldn't access it. She is the best sister and friend I could ever ask for and has been a constant support to me over these many years. I love you, Trina!

We have been trying to get on a schedule but we all 3 have our days and nights mixed up. That will work out in time. Julianna and I were able to spend about 6 hours today together alone and everything went great! We hope and continue to pray that God would heal her little heart and mind.

Thanks for all the sweet comments left on the blog. Ed and I have been reading them over the past couple of days. Thanks also for the prayers that have been offered up on our behalf. We could feel them literally in China.

Here are some pictures of our greeting at the airport:

We Love Guangzhou/Red Couch Photos

2009-06-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

We got to Guangzhou late Friday night and really like it here so far. It kind of reminds me of Florida with the humid weather and tourist shops. Julianna had her medical appointment yesterday for the US consulate side of the paperwork. Needless to say, there were many tears shed by Julianna. After that we went shopping, and everything is dirt cheap (children's dresses for less than $10). We also went to a McDonald's and had some good American food. All of the stares and people obviously talking about us made us feel like Brad and Angelina:)

On Sunday morning, we went to Christ Church for the morning Chinese/English service. It was a blessing because it's been such a dream of ours to be in church as a family. The pastor preached on being thankful, and we are definitely thankful to the Lord for Julianna. We had the famous "Red Couch" pictures in the afternoon. Let's just say it was traumatic. We did get a picture, but it was not without some major tears.

Julianna can sit and lay between Ed and me on the bed now without tears, and he can get up a little with just some whimpering on her part. She is still laughing and smiling a lot. She also sat on half of my lap and half of Ed's on Sunday for lunch. Here are some pictures of the Jernigans:

Last Day in Nanchang

2009-06-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

Today was our last full day in Nanchang and tomorrow we head to Guangzhou for the US consulate stuff. We saw a lot of progress with Julianna today. She has been smiling and giggling most of the day. I started blowing kisses at her and she blew some back at me! She also reached out for me a couple of times and she can now sit for several minutes at a time on Ed's lap facing out instead of always being chest to chest with him. We talked with the UAB clinic and they reassured us that this happens all the time. We just have to keep working with her and be patient since her little world has been turned upside down. Her little smile is the most beautiful thing and can light up the room. She just grins from ear to ear. We toured a pagoda down the street with some of our travel group and went to a grocery store. Pretty interesting trying to buy stuff when everything is in Chinese! Otherwise, it was a pretty low key day spent together just the 3 of us. We are very excited to be going to Guangzhou tomorrow. It's a very large city with lots of shops and actual American type food. We will be staying at the White swan hotel which is famous in the China adoption world. We will complete the American side of the paperwork there and come home next Wednesday!

Here are some pics of the last couple of days:

Ancient Anyi Village

2009-06-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

Today we toured an ancient, 1,000-year-old village in the countryside. It was amazing to see the workers and water buffalo out in the rice paddies and to visit a village where the people do not even have running water. I told Ed that we in America just don't realize how blessed we are.
We finally got a lot of smiles from Julianna today and some laughs from her too. She still has to be held by Ed at all times. He left the hotel room today for 30 minutes, and she cried uncontrollably until he got back. Even after she was back in his arms, she still cried for a long time. If anybody has any advice on what we should do, please share it in the blog comments and my sister can relate it back to us. Julianna is just so traumatized right now, and we know it will take time. But it's wearing Ed out, and it's really hard finally being a Mom but being unable to hold my child without her sobbing.
Tomorrow we go to visit a local park, and then on Friday we leave for Guangzhou! We're having trouble attaching pictures, so we will try to post some tomorrow.

Getting To Know Each Other in China

2009-06-09T12:29:00.001-07:00

Everything is good here in China. We are still getting to know Julianna, and she is going through a lot of grieving. She is definitely a "Daddy's girl" right now and won't let him out of her sight. She has to be touching him at all times. This is really tiring Ed out, but he is hanging in there. She will let me play with her and feed her as long as she is in Daddy's lap. Please pray that she will soon be able to come to me without having a meltdown.

Yesterday we went to the Civil Affairs office and finalized the adoption on the China side. She is OURS in the eyes of China now! We are taking it easy today and not going on the planned tour. We think it would be better for Julianna to stay here at the hotel and not have a lot of stress on her.

Please continue to pray for all three of us. We can feel your prayers all the way over here in China. Here are some pictures from the last couple of days.

Love,

The Jernigan Family!

Gotcha Day!

2009-06-08T10:57:00.000-07:00

Lee Anne and Ed are having some trouble getting Internet access right now. I (Trina) will be updating everyone until they arrive in Shanghai and can regain access. Julianna is now with Ed and Lee Anne. They both have described her as a "little doll" and even more adorable than her picture. We'll be adding pictures to this post as soon as Lee Anne can send them.

Julianna is already sleeping in her crib through the night in the hotel room. She lets Lee Anne feed her and give her a bottle, and she loves to be held by Ed. It seems she is already well on her way to being a "Daddy's girl." So far, they have only had one major issue with her-- bathtime! She hates it!

Lee Anne and Ed both ask for continued prayer in the attachment process. Julianna also needs our prayers as she continues to experience so many changes and sees so many new things in the days to come. Finally, pray for Lee Anne and Ed to have continued strength (emotionally and physically) as they continue on this journey.

We Made It To China!

2009-06-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

We are in China now! After about 30 hours of flight time, we made it to Beijing about 11:00 pm last night. We've had a great day of touring Beijing today. We went to Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, the site of the 2008 Olympics, and we climbed the Great Wall. Did I just say we climbed the Great Wall? It still doesn't seem real that we are actually here. We have a great group of people we are traveling with in China.

Tomorrow is the day we have been waiting for for years. It's "gotcha day" for Julianna! We'll fly to Nanchang tomorrow, and she should be in our arms tomorrow afternoon around 3:00 or 4:00 pm China time or 2:00-3:00 am Central time (Sunday). Please continue to pray that she'll have an easy transition and will bond with each of us. Please pray that this won't be too traumatic, and that we can calm any fears that she has. Below are some pictures of the day and a look at some of the things we did.

Last Post Before China

2009-06-03T18:08:00.001-07:00

We can't believe that after all these years, we are leaving for China in the morning to get our precious baby Julianna. We just had the best send off with all our family there. It meant so much to see everybody before we leave in a few short hours. The Bible verse that has been going through my head all day is Romans 8:28 - All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. His purpose for all eternity has been for us to be the parents of Julianna - a sweet angel born on the other side of the world. We hope and pray that we can be the parents that she needs for us to be. Please continue to pray for us over the next 2 weeks. Here are some specific prayer requests:

-Julianna would know that we are her parents
-That she would quickly and easily bond to us
-That we would know how to meet her needs
-Safety in travel
-Physical health for all three of us
-That God would bless us all with patience, peace, and calmness with no anxiety as we go through this process

Julianna,

We are coming to get you baby girl! We can't believe the time has come and in a few short days you will be in our arms. We are praying for you and that you are able to easily bond with us. We can't wait to finally get to you and kiss those cheeks and lips. May God richly bless you and give you peace.

2 days!

2009-06-02T20:27:00.000-07:00

We are now down to 2 days until we leave for China to get Julianna! We have been busy packing and cleaning and baby proofing the house. It seems so "surreal" that this is actually happening. We are continually amazed at the Lord's mercy and grace that is shown to us. Whether through phone calls from friends or one of our neighbors offering to mow our yard, we have received so much encouragement and support. We can't thank all of you enough. We still have packing to do tomorrow. We have all of Julianna's stuff packed in one suitcase and now we have to get my and Ed's stuff into another suitcase. I guess it is obvious who is taking priority. :) We also received another picture of Julianna from the Spanish group sponsoring her orphanage. Here it is:

Isn't she the most precious baby in the world??

We enjoyed a picnic on Saturday that was given for us and 2 other families who already have arrived home with their children. Wanda Shaw, our Chinese teacher, hosted it and we had traditional Chinese food and a big cake. Wanda gave us a very special gift - a picture of Julianna with her name, birth date, adoption date, and province in Chinese. We had a wonderful time even though it was very hot out. I guess that is good practice for the hot weather in China!

We leave in 6 days!

2009-05-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it! We leave for China in 6 days! We are so excited, nervous, and every other emotion too. We have everything laid out on the back spare bed that we are going to take with us. Right now it's pretty much all Julianna's stuff! Now we just have to fit it all in suitcases. We made a shopping trip to Target this week and are going to hit Walmart tonight to try to finish up. We have everything from Cheerios to bottles to stacking cups ready for our sweet baby girl.

I also picked up gifts from Bath and Body today for the orphanage workers. How do you pick out a gift and say thank you to the people who have given you the most precious gift in the world?? I will admit it was difficult but we went by what the agency suggested and got them lotions, hand sanitizer, and are going to get some chocolate for them too. I hope they enjoy it.

Also, I will be doing a post in the next couple of days on the awesome baby shower that my wonderful co-workers gave me last week. I am waiting on pictures and will post them then. It was beautiful!

We received our final itinerary for China. Here it is:

June 4 - Leave Huntsville-Atlanta-Shanghai-Beijing
June 5 - Arrive in Beijing
June 6 - Visit Tian An Men Square, Forbidden City, Olympic Park, climb Great Wall (did I just type that??)
June 7 - Leave for Nanchang and Gotcha Day for JULIANNA! (Only 9 days from now!)
June 8 - Civil Affairs Office for adoption registration and notary; Trip to Walmart
June 9 -Visit Tengwang Pavilion
June 10- Visit Anyi Ancient village
June 11 - Visit Renmin Park
June 12 - Fly to Guangzhou
June 13 - Medical checkup for Julianna (If she is anything like her Mama she won't like that one) and fill out forms for consulate
June 14 - Sermon at local church and Red Couch Photos for Babies
June 15 - Visa documents/Paperwork
June 16 - Oath at US consulate
June 17 - Fly Guangzhou-Shanghai-Atlanta-Huntsville-HOME!!

Updated Measurements & Another New Picture

2009-05-22T20:49:00.001-07:00

We received updated measurements and a new picture of Julianna. At 13 months, she weighs 22.6 lbs and is 29.3 inches tall. I told Eddie she is tall just like a Jernigan! Since we received these new measurements, we will probably not be bringing any 12 months clothes with us - only 18 months. We really expected her to be small but we are glad to know that she is healthy! We also found out that she has 4 teeth. God has truely blessed us in so many ways through this process. One of those ways is receiving so many pictures of Julianna. Sometimes, you will only receive maybe one or two additional pictures after the referral pictures. But, the Lord has allowed us to see almost her whole first year through pictures (well actually starting when she was 5 months old.) Here is the new picture we received from the orphanage:

Isn't she precious?? I just wish they would have wiped her runny nose. I need to get over there quickly!

New Picture of Julianna and Shower Pictures

2009-05-12T19:56:00.000-07:00

First of all, I got the best Mother's Day gift I could have gotten - a new picture of Julianna! This picture is from April 20 and is from the Spanish group I have been emailing. I LOVE this picture because she has a big grin on her face. Also, if you look closely, you can see 2 little teeth. I just can't wait to see that sweet grin in person.

Also, here are some pictures of our shower at church:

Pictures of Julianna and a map with hearts from the US to China

The cake, flowers, and a picture of Julianna's birthday

Me coming in the church

My niece Anna showing Robin the pictures of her baby cousin (Anna loves to show these pictures to everybody!)

My niece Sarah Beth and her Mom (my sister-in-law). My nieces were a huge help especially when I opened our presents. :)

Some of the many gifts we received. We were just overwhelmed by everybody's generosity.

China Schedule

2009-05-08T06:21:00.000-07:00

We received lots of good news this week on our trip to China! We got our TA (Travel Approval)from China and we are leaving on Thursday, June 4, a whole week earlier than we thought. Then yesterday, we received our CA (consulate appointment) with the U.S. consulate in Guangzhou and were able to purchase plane tickets! It seems so unreal that this is actually happening. Here is our tentative schedule:

June 4 Leave Huntsville
June 5 Arrive in Beijing
June 6 Tour Beijing
June 7 Fly to Jiangxi and Gotcha Day for Julianna!
June 8 - 12 Adoption registration in Jiangxi
June 12 Leave for Guangzhou
June 15 Consulate Appointment
June 16 Oath Ceremony
June 17 Leave China and arrive back in U.S.

We still have a lot to do before we leave for China and most importantly we have to start packing. We ask that all of you continue to pray for Julianna and us and that things would go smoothly. We also ask that you pray that she would know that we are her Mama and Daddy when she meets us and that she would easily and quickly bond with us.

Well, better go get busy!

Baby Shower

2009-05-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

The most awesome baby shower was given for us on Sunday at church! I want to especially thank our family (Trina and Summer) and friends (Jennifer, Shannon, Joy, Robin, Gina, Wendi, Cathy and Betsy )who organized it. You ladies did the greatest job! Everything was perfect. The food was delicious. The decorations (including the map of the world with hearts from the US to China and pictures of our sweet baby Julianna) and flowers were beautiful. It was all amazing. We were just overwhelmed by the generosity of so many. We are so thankful to the Lord for each and everyone of you who came or contributed to our special day. We can't wait until Julianna gets to wear all the cute clothes, play with all the toys and enjoy all the precious gifts she received. I will be posting pictures later of this great day!

Birthday Pics!

2009-04-23T14:50:00.000-07:00

We received pictures of our sweet baby girl and her birthday cake! We sent her this cake through Ann at Red Thread and she was able to get pictures of her with her birthday candles all lit. (Ann is awesome for those of you adopting from China. We HIGHLY recommend her.) Even though we are so happy to see the pictures, our hearts are heavy when we see all the children gathered around. We hope and pray that all the children will be adopted by a loving family.

This is our favorite! It's almost like she is saying, "Give me my cake!"

New Pictures

2009-04-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

I have been emailing with a group in Spain who sponsors Julianna's orphanage. They were able to provide us with 6 pictures of Julianna! We are thrilled to say the least and so thankful that this special adoptive group in Spain is making sure that the children in the orphanage are well cared for. (Thank you so much Elena & Mari!) These pictures are from September 2008 when she was only about 5 months old to March 2009 when she was about 11 months old. Here are the pictures of our sweet baby girl:

September 11, 2008

November 13, 2008

December 16, 2008 (Our 13th Wedding Anniversary!)

January 24, 2009

February 15, 2009

March 11, 2009

We also have BIRTHDAY PICTURES of our baby girl with her cake! I will be posting those later unless Ed beats me to it. :) God continues to amaze us with special blessings like all these pictures.

Happy 1st Birthday, Julianna

2009-04-17T18:14:00.000-07:00

Julianna,

Happy 1st Birthday, Baby Girl! Your Daddy and I wish so much that we could be in China with you today on your special day. We hope you had a wonderful birthday full of love, hugs, and kisses. Our thoughts have been about you all day today. We hope that you enjoyed our care package we sent to you including your birthday cake. I can just imagine your little fingers covered in all that icing! Here is a picture of some of the things that we ordered for you through Ann's Red Thread:

We spent the day doing things that reminded us of you: buying gifts for you, eating Chinese food for dinner, and we even bought a cake to have here with "Happy Birthday, Julianna" on it. We can't wait to have a 1st birthday celebration with you when you get home! We also look forward to all the birthdays we will get to share with you in the future! The Lord has special plans for you that is for sure. We can't wait to see what He has in store for you!

We love you!

Mama & Daddy

More Info on Julianna!

2009-04-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

First of all, thank you all for the sweet, encouraging comments that you have left for us. It means the world to us to know that so many of our family and friends love and care for us and our new baby. Also, thank you to our family and our friends who helped us celebrate the referral of Julianna last weekend and for your prayers and encouragement on this long road we have been on to get to our precious baby girl.

We officially decided on a middle name for our baby girl! Her name will be Julianna Marie Jernigan. (Ed actually got to pick out the middle name!) Of course, I had to ok it! :) Also, we received the translation of our referral and learned a lot more on our sweet baby:

-She is in foster care (This is a specific answer to prayer. We had been praying that she would be in a foster home in order to help with bonding and so she would get more one on one attention.)

-She gets up at 6:00 am, goes to bed at 8:00 pm, and takes a 2 hour nap (She should fit in just fine with us!)

-She eats 4-5 meals a day - she takes formula mixed with rice cereal, eats noodles, eggs, and congee.

-She has a ready smile and enjoys reading picture books.

-Her favorite activity is to play games and her favorite toy is a doll.

-At 5-6 months old, her facial expressions were like "colorful pictures".

-At 7-8 months old, she could sit alone freely, stand for a while with assistance, understand some simple words; can tell affirming or denying tones.

We also received a estimate of our travel dates - leaving June 11 and arrive back in the US on June 24. These dates are a very rough estimate, but it at least gives us some idea. We are praying that we get to go sooner though! We would go tomorrow if we could!

Referral!!!!!!

2009-04-04T14:55:00.000-07:00

With thankfulness to our Heavenly Father, we announce the referral of our daughter - Ling Wan Zhan - soon to be Julianna Jernigan!!!! (We will probably use Wan-Zhan as her middle name, but still trying to decide.) We are overjoyed and still can't believe this is really happening!! We are thrilled and completely in love. Here is what we know so far:

Chinese Name: Ling Wan Zhan
Birth Date: April 17, 2008 (only 11 months old!)
Resides at: Shangrao Children's Welfare Center, Jiangxi Province
Weight: 14.9 lbs
Height: 26.3 inches

She is active and restless and is a deep sleeper (Sounds just like her Mama!). She can sit up and crawl. She is quick in reaction and is fond of playing with toys and of playing games. She is closest to her caregiver.

Here are the pictures: (We know that is what you really want!) :)

We are expected to travel in 10 weeks.

Ed & LeeAnne
(Julianna's Daddy & Mama!)

Nursery in Progress

2009-03-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

We have the baby bed up! The nursery is still a work in progress. but we wanted to share some of what we have done so far. Here is Ed putting the bed together:

Here is the baby bed with the bedding. I love the bedding with the green, pink, and chocolate colors.

Also, below is the light fixture we put up:

We have ordered the rocker from All About Baby and it should be here in a few weeks. We are working on getting pictures and knickknacks to go around the room.

We are hoping to hear something this week or next on our referral of Julianna. We will DEFINITELY be posting pictures of her when we get them!

We are NEXT!!!

2009-03-05T13:10:00.000-08:00

We can't believe it but praise God we are finally NEXT to receive our referral!! The CCAA referred through March 6, 2006 this week. So, we will be in the next batch of referrals which should come out either the end of March or the first week of April. We have learned over these many years to expect the unexpected, but we THINK we are safe to say that we will get Julianna's picture and referral info in only a month.

I have been trying to guess how old she will be and where she will be from. For some reason, I am stuck on 10 months old and the Jiangxi province, but I guess we will have to see if my predictions were correct! Does anybody have any predictions on how old?? I know you all don't know the provinces like us, so I am not going to go there. I thought about doing a poll like I have seen on other blogs, so that may be coming soon.

It's weird, but after all this time, we have started thinking...are we ready for this? Of course we are, but we know the Jernigans will have to make some major adjustments to our lifestyle. We are use to watching tv when we want and taking naps when we want, so we know all that will be changing.

We are still working on the nursery. We have finished painting the walls and trim and we also have the new light fixture up. We are going to clean out the closet this weekend and get everything completely moved out for the new carpet that is coming in next week. After the carpet, we can finally move the furniture into the room. We are still looking for a rocker which is the only big item we still need for the nursery. I am still going to post a picture when we get closer to it being ready.

Well better go! The countdown is definitely on!

5 More LID's to go

2009-01-23T13:28:00.000-08:00

The CCAA only referred 2 days of LID's this month - March 1 and 2, so that means that there are 5 days left including our LID of the 7th. I was thinking they might get to the 3rd or 6th. Last week rumors were swirling of a big batch and I was in a panic considering the nursery isn't even painted! With only 2 LID's referred, I don't feel as panicked as I did last week.

Ed & our friend Jay are busy putting tile down in the bathrooms and we finished painting 2 bedrooms and one of the bathrooms. We are slowly but surely getting there. We going to start painting the nursery this week. Our bedding came in! The bedding has pink, brown, and light green and the flowers on it look Asian to me. I will attach a picture later. We have also purchased a lamp and pillows to go with the bedding that look adorable.

We got good news in the mail from the CIS (Citizenship & Immigration Services). After a lot of phone calls and emails last week by us and our agency, we finally have our updated I600A approval! Our last approval expired this week and we can't go to China without it. Our new approval doesn't expire until July of 2010...surely we can make it to China and back before then...don't you think??

Also, we have SOLVED the dilemma of taking a laptop to China. Eddie surprised me with a mini-lap that only weighs about 2 pounds. (Thanks for the idea, Shannon!) So, I will be able to post to this blog while we are travelling in China for 2 weeks.

Happy Chinese New Year!

We have a blog!

2009-01-12T14:11:00.001-08:00

After years of looking at blogs, I am so excited to actually be blogging our adoption journey to Julianna. We will try to keep this blog updated with the happenings of the Jernigans. To get everyone up to date, we are waiting for the arrival of our first child, Julianna, who has already been born in China! (I am smiling as I type that!) We have been hoping and praying for years for a child and Julianna is the answer to our prayers and the prayers of so many others who have been on this journey with us.

We are expecting to receive her referral some time either late February/early March of this year. Our LID is March 7, 2006 and the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) has sent referrals through February 28, 2006. So, only 7 LID until ours! For those who don't know, when we receive her referral, we will receive the following: her Chinese name, her age, a health report (including measurements) and some basic information about her personality. After we receive the referral, we will travel to China about 6 to 8 weeks later to adopt her. We will stay in China about two weeks. Then we will head back to the great state of Alabama with the newest Jernigan and as a family of 3!

We are busily working on getting things ready for Julianna's arrival. We ordered the baby bedding last week. It is so cute! We have also been working on cleaning out the room that we are turning into her nursery and painting the bedrooms and bathrooms. It is finally feeling real. Our family and friends have even been asking about doing showers for us. It just seems so unreal after all this time. Even after waiting all this time, we have a lot of nesting to do! We are so excited and CAN'T WAIT to get her home!