Happy New Year!

We have been home with Piper now one month. I can't believe how fast the time has gone already. She is doing so well! She is starting to walk, sleeping great and not missing any meals. I think we are all adjusting and I must say it is a lot harder with two. I find myself in disbelief at how messy the house is all the time and how quickly nap time goes! Piper loves her big brother and Cooper is enjoying the playtime with her. On Jan 8th we go to the International Adoption Clinic to get her check up and blood work. Developmentally she is seems to be on track and just a happy baby.

The Rigney's had a monumental 2008 - Cooper had his second implant turned on, Scott got a new job and we adopted Piper. I don't think 2009 will be quite as exciting!

Now it is bedtime and I have to jump back into action. Happy New Year!

Jet Lag, Diapers & Formula...oh my!

We are so happy to be home and we are almost on Indiana time. Cooper is doing great and is being a really good big brother. Scott and I are still amazed that we left 2 weeks ago without a baby and now we are instant parents again. Sometimes it is still hard to wrap our minds around. Piper is doing great and is very happy. She has really warmed up to Scott and smiles and laughs when he comes in the house. She does have an ear infection and a non stop runny nose but that is not slowing her down. We think she is going to be an early walker. She is able to stand on her own and loves it when we walk her around. I think that is one of her favorite things to do. Of course she has all these great stimulating toys but her favorite thing to play with is our coasters. More to come.....

We are Home!!

Yeah! After 27 hours of buses, trains, planes and cars, we are finally home. It feels soooo good! Piper did great for most of the journey and I think I only had one melt down so overall not bad for all the travel.

Cooper, my parents and some friends greeted us at the airport and then our neighbors when we got home. It was a fun homecoming! Piper slept from 10:30pm-12:00am and then again from 1:30 to 5:30. I am going to try and keep her up until 10am for a nap. That is if I can make it that long.

Thank you to everyone for all you did for us while we were in China! I will post more later when I am not as foggy!(that might be a few days:)

Flight Info

Here is our flight information:

Flight Operated By: /UNITED EXPRESS/SHUTTLE AMERICA
Thurs Dec 4th
Depart:
Chicago O'Hare Int'l Arpt
05:59 PM

Arrive:
Indianapolis Int'l Arpt
07:59 PM

Indianapolis, IN USA
Thursday, December 04, 2008

Baby Blessing & Tuesday in China

The baby blessing took place at The Six Baynon Tree Temple. It was a working Buddhist Temple with a history that dates back 1500 years. It is much smaller than it used to be b/c of the city growth. The Buddhist Master did a prayer for all the families and babies. The ceremony took about 10 minutes and we knelt in front of 3 bronze Buddhas that weighted about 10 tons each. It was very cool.

Amy Update: She is feeling much better. They had to go to 3 doctors before they got the correct diagnosis and medicine. The parents and baby both look more rested!

Piper Update: She is now getting on the floor and playing with her toys. She still does not like it if I leave the room but we are making progress. She is sitting on Scott's lap and he also is holding her more.

Steve is back from Hong Kong and he had a great time! He said it was well worth the journey.

Today we did some shopping and we will have dinner with several of the families that are leaving tomorrow. Our region requires us to stay one more day so we will leave here on Thursday morning. We can't wait for everyone to meet Piper!

Monday in China

Hello! It is Monday in China and we have had Piper now one week. I think she is beginning to come around to this Rigney gig! We have had some big steps the past day. She is now sitting on Scott's lap and when we took her to the play room today she crawled on the floor and pulled herself up on the toys. She also tried to take her first step. She is a happy little girl and we are seeing more smiles and laughs.

Today we are going to the Buddhist Temple for the baby blessing. I am so excited and can't wait to experience it. All Chinese paper work is now completed. We meet with the US consulate tomorrow to arrange for Piper's passport and immigration documentation.

I am finally feeling rested and on China time, so I better enjoy the next 3 days. We are counting the days until we can come home. I will post more after our baby blessing.

Thanksgiving

Please pray for one of the babies in our group. Her name is Amy and she has been very sick from the time she was placed in her parents arms. She is making improvements but it is a little at a time.
It is Saturday (11/29) and we arrived back in Guangzhou last night around 7pm. We had a grueling 6-7 hour bus ride both to and from Maoming. The road conditions and the traffic and are just bad, but with that being said it was well worth it to see the city and orphanage where Piper was living.
Thanksgiving Day – We could not be more thankful today as we think about how blessed we are to have such great friends, family and two beautiful children. In the morning we went to the orphanage and when we got off the bus we were surrounded by school kids and they were fascinated to see us. They were all trying to practice their English, “hello”, “welcome”, and giving Scott high 5’s and shaking hands. The orphanage is located on the first 4 floors of an apartment building. We went to the 2nd floor and left our gifts for the orphanage and the nannies. Thank you to the families that have donated items to the Kidsfirst Foundation. We took a suitcase full of toothbrushes, toothpaste, teddy bears and clothing, it was well received. At that time the orphanage director handed out the clothing that our children were found in. It was very emotional moment and we are so thankful that they kept the clothing for us. Next we got to go see the playroom and crib rooms. Piper’s nanny was in the playroom and she came to the door to talk to her and Piper got the biggest smile on her face and was laughing. They call her Mei Mei and you could tell that they love her. Her nanny told us that she laughs and smiles all the time and is a happy baby. We got to see which crib was hers and were able to take a few photos. They are very strict as no photos are allowed of the other children in the orphanage. The orphanage is clean and seems to be well run. They said there are about 80 children living there and a lot of the ones that we saw were special needs. It is heart breaking to know that most of these children will never have a family. When we left the orphanage we were able to go to her “finding spot”. It was on the corner of busy street. It was very powerful moment to for our family to be at the spot where her journey to our family started.
Thanksgiving dinner consisted of more Chinese food. I don’t think we will ever complain again about not having a “good” Chinese restaurant near us. It seems that Pipers favorite time is when we sit down to the table to eat. She bangs on her toys and is happy. On the bus ride back to Guangzhou she was laughing and smiling as Scott and I played with her. She is letting Scott hold her a little bit more but still wanting me all the time. We are hoping within the next day or so she will let me put her down without crying and play on the floor. When I put her down she just sobs and crawls after me. Today we go for the medical check and then the rest of the day if free time…whohoo! More later. We hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving feast!