Gotcha Day December 3, 2012

Gotcha Day, Mon. Dec. 3, 2012

What a day it has been.  We started the day with a good breakfast then met our guide at 9:00 to go to the Civil Affairs office in Zhengzhou to finish up some paperwork there and wait for Isaac to arrive.  At about 10:25 a little group of children started to come in with their nannies and the orphanage directors.  Soon our guide said he recognized the director from Isaac’s orphanage and then…THERE HE WAS!  All bundled up in a snowsuit and sweater, pink cheeks and looking around.  He and his nanny came over to us and he let Guillermo pick him right up.  We gave him a little truck and he liked playing with it. It wasn’t long until he started to figure out that something different was happening.  He started crying, didn’t want to play anymore, looking for his nanny and getting kind of desperate.  After Guillermo made our “donation” to the director we got out of that room and soon Isaac calmed down.  He cried off and on while we were in the car on our way to … yep, Walmart!  When we got there he very much enjoyed showing us the foods he likes so we stocked up on a few snack items, juices and yogurt drinks. 

After our shopping expedition we were all ready for lunch.  The guide asked if we wanted to go to Pizza Hut but we opted for traditional Chinese food.  We shared rice, pork bits, a veggie plate with bacon on top and spicy noodles made of tofu.  Ok, so most of the others didn’t have the spicy noodles.  While we were waiting for our food, Isaac made his way over to another table where two young men were eating their lunch. I don’t know what Isaac said to them, but it wasn’t long before they were sharing their food with him.  Must be a smooth-talker. He has a good appetite and when the rest of us were finished he told the guide that there was a little of the good stuff left and he intended to eat it. 

We came back to the hotel and I went to the lobby to do more paperwork while Guillermo got initiated into having two boys.  (He did just fine!)  We spent the afternoon in the room playing, getting to know each other, taking a good nap, playing more.  Just as we thought when we saw his picture, this little guy has a bit of mischief inside him and it so badly wants out.  I think I’ll get my exercise!  His giggle confirmed that the video that I found a while back truly is him.  What a delightful little guy. 

He drew on the magnadoodle board and liked showing us his pictures.  We would say “beautiful” or “nice” and he started showing us the picture and saying “beautiful” or “nice”, followed by a string of words that none of us understood.  He’s quite the chatterbox. 

He’s good at opening and closing his juice bottle.  He takes the lid off, takes a drink, then puts the lid back on.  He’s kind of protective of that juice bottle and has had it refilled a couple of times already. 

Naptime and bedtime brought tears.  He likes to slurp on his two fingers while falling asleep.  I can hear him over there slurping on them now. 

Guille is such a good big brother.  He played cars with Isaac at the Civil Affairs building, took pictures of the whole event, held Isaac’s hand while we walked around Walmart.  Watching the two of them walk hand in hand made THIS mama’s heart very happy.  Guille IS a little concerned about Isaac getting into everything.  He’s not to fond of the crying, but all in all, I think he’s liking his new job.  He decided he wanted to sleep with Isaac in the rollaway bed tonight. 

Tomorrow our plan is to return to the Civil Affairs office to finalize the adoption.  After all that paperwork is done we will drive 2 ½ - 3 hours to Luoyang to go to the police station there to apply for Isaac’s passport.  I guess it generally takes 6 weeks or longer for a Chinese citizen to get their passport but they expedite passports for the little ones being adopted internationally.  Hopefully his will be ready by Friday before we have to leave for southern China.  We will also visit his orphanage and his finding place.  It sounds like we’ll have a full day.

I’m going to try to get some pictures ready to send with this post.  If they show up, I was successful. If they don’t show up… I guess you’ll have to wait til we get home so I can post them.   

December 1, more reasonable time!!  8:30PM

My, this internet is S L O W!!!  But, at least it is something.  I suppose we will have internet when we go to Henan province tomorrow.  Hopefully it will be faster. 

We decided to get up around 5:30, shower and go to breakfast at 6.  The breakfast buffet at the hotel was amazing.  They had about anything you can imagine on it.  Oh, there was the usual scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, cereal, and pastries (not your usual pastries though… these looked pretty freshly made).  They also had a chef preparing omelets to your liking and something else, though I didn’t’ check that out this morning because there was toooooo much other good stuff.  They had fruit, fresh yogurt to which you could add grains, nuts (macademia nuts, pine nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, some other interesting looking condiments).  They had baked chicken, fish, dumplings, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, some sort of spring roll,… I think I can’t remember everything!  They had fresh juices… orange, apple, pineapple, and mmmmm, something else.  Needless to say, we got our fill at breakfast. 

After breakfast we headed out for Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.  We walked from one end of the Square to the other end of the City.  They have been restoring the Forbidden City, so the gold flake on the roofs and sidewalls was very impressive.  We basically saw the same things we saw 3 ½ years ago, but from a different view.  Before we walked down a corridor/alleyway and looked UP at the buildings.  This time we went up and down steps to get a better view of the buildings and the view from the top was spectacular.  It was pretty cold (the water in the ponds/rivers is frozen) and there were a lot of people there.  A friend back home had loaned us a “leash” (a little monkey backpack with a long tail that just happens to fasten around the child and the tail has a loop just big enough to loop around a parent’s wrist).  That came in very handy and we only totally tripped one person.  Thankfully it was a young guy who wasn’t at all phased by the unexpected “trip”.  Guille and his new friend Jonathan walked along together and played as they went.  I don’t know how much they saw of the place, but they enjoyed themselves. 

We ate lunch at a restaurant where they served the food in big plates/bowls and placed them on a huge lazy susan in the middle of the table.  We all had our fill of some yummy Chinese food.  There were several chicken dishes, veggie dishes, fish, “fried milk”, rice….  There was SO much food.  The amount of left overs was incredible.  But… the drinks??? Gotta ration those drinks!  There was ONE glass of either coke or spite per person and when someone asked for water… you would have thought they’d asked gold!  There were no free refills! (And in the hotel they give you 2 bottles of “free” water per day.  There are more bottles available in the room for a measly 40yuan (nearly $7.00!).And, no, they are not big bottles of water…they’re the 16 oz size.  Anyway, after our lunch we went downstairs from the restaurant to a jade store.  Wow, were there some pretty things there… and at a pretty price.  It made me rather nervous to have Guille walking around pieces that had a US price tag of $2000 or more.  Thankfully he was being very good and not touching things and not being silly.  Obviously, we didn’t load up on souvenirs there! 

On to the Great Wall!  We were a little surprised that we went because it was so cold.  Since we didn’t have gloves with us we took extra socks and used them for mittens.  Hey, it worked!!   We parked at a little shopping area near tower 6 (I think) and we all walked/climbed up to tower 7.  Guillermo headed back to the bus to warm up and Guille and I climbed (or rather dragged ourselves) up to a little “resting spot” between towers 8 and 9.  I thought we should go on up to tower 9 but Guille didn’t think that was a good idea.  Believe me, I thanked him for that wisdom on the way back down!  Shuuueey! My legs felt like wet noodles!  I think it was harder coming down than going up.  We got a few, (I mean very few) pictures there because the batteries in both cameras died and the backup batteries died.  Guillermo was able to warm the batteries for his camera and squeeze out a couple more pictures.  Some of the other families said we could get pictures from them.  That was sure sweet of them. 

On the bus ride back to Beijing from the Great Wall we all fell asleep.  Guille was so tired that he slept right through our Peking Duck dinner at a very nice restaurant.  We thought he would wake up when we picked him up and carried him in, or when we talked to him about food, or when they brought the food but nope, that boy is TIRED!  We put some coats of the floor and put him on there.  He snored a bit (provided dinner music) but mostly just slept very peacefully.  We did manage to get a “to go box” for him with a FEW of the abundance of left overs from the dinner.  I think we could have eaten leftovers from that meal for a month at home.  It’s a shame!  (Oh, and again… no refills!).  I carried Guille back to the bus, into the hotel, back to our room and put him on the bed.  He didn’t even flinch.  We changed him into his pajamas and let him roll over and go back to sleep.  Guess we didn’t need those “to go boxes”. 

The parking around here is tight!  As we were leaving the restaurant a motorcycle squeezed through between where the bus was trying to back up and another car.  Then the lady got out of her car and started screaming at the bus driver.  We didn’t know what she was doing.  She was just standing there in the way and yelling.  Finally the driver opened his window and said something to her, they argued back and forth a bit, then he got out of the bus, went back to her car and saw there was a dent and scrape.  Nobody on the bus felt him hit anything or heard any scrapes, but supposedly he had hit her car. So he paid  her 300 yuan (about $50) and we were on our way.  Now that’s not something we tourists run into every day.  Hopefully we won’t run into anything again!!  We got back to the hotel without incident and got our instructions to be in the lobby at 9:00AM to go to the airport to head out to our next hotel… in the province where we will meet our children, where WE will meet Isaac!!

Speaking of the hotel:  It is very nice.  It has a mini mall attached to it with restaurants, stores, pool/spa, Baskin Robins, Starbucks, a deli, clothing stores….  The main door into the lobby is a rotating door that has Christmas lights inside of two of the sections.  We were trying to figure out how they do that without tangling up.  Anyway, a couple of funny things:  In OUR room, we couldn’t figure out how to turn the lights at the head of the bed off last night, so we took a washcloth and loosened the lightbulb.  This morning we found that the switch is on a nightstand next to the bed.  It controls all the lights!  Go figure!  Another couple thought the lights didn’t work at all in their room so they had the maintenance man come and he took out some ceiling tiles, then noticed they hadn’t put their room key into the little slot inside the room that controls the electricity in the room.  Boy, did they feel silly.  It is so dry in here that we have a coffe pot boiling water to add some humidity.  I hope it doesn’t damage the ceiling in the little cubby hole where it is.  I’m glad it’s helping though. 

Well, the boys are sleeping and I should probably join them.  Some of the families will meet their new children tomorrow when they arrive in their province.  I THINK we are getting Isaac on Monday, though we might be surprised.  I’m planning on Monday though.  Good night/Good morning.

Uuummmmm, pictures will be coming sometime… hopefully soon. 

 

December 1  2:30AM

Ni hao everyone!  It’s 2:30AM Saturday, Dec. 1 and we are all awake and wondering what to do.  We got to Beijing at 3:40PM yesterday (2:40AM EST) and by the time we got through everything at the airport and got to our hotel and got our room, it was 7:30.  It didn’t take us long to fall asleep, but now what??  Oh, jet lag!  What fun.  The plan for today is to visit Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, and the Great Wall.  I didn’t think we would visit the Great Wall this time due to the bitterly cold temps/windchills up there.  But, we’ll put socks on our hands and bundle up as much as possible and enjoy the day. 

 

 

Ya know the question that is asked repeatedly, especially when traveling , “What time is it?”  How do you answer that when you really don’t have a clue what time it really is?  What time zone are we in?  So, we just said what time it was at home and what time it was in China.  That generally was good enough.  And for the question, “When will we get there?” there was a handy-dandy little screen on the back of the seat in front of us that told us how far we’d come, how long until we arrived, the altitude, the temperature outside (-80F) and a map with an icon of the plane and the route it took.  As we flew over the north pole, Guille thought he saw Santa hard at work.  (Actually, we looked out over the wing, which seemed rather large, and we didn’t have much of a view.)

Itinerary

Several people have asked what our itinerary looks like.  I guess I'll post it here so you can be praying for us each step along the way.

Itinerary for CHINA trip, 2012

Thursday, November 29, 2012

            Fly, fly away!            Depart P. @ 10:12 AM

                                          Arrive  C.   @ 10:45 AM

           Change planes           Depart      @ 11:55 AM

                                   Arrive  Beijing    @ 3:40 PM   Nov. 30

Saturday, Dec. 1:  Sightseeing in Beijing

Sunday, Dec. 2:  Flight to Henan Province

Monday, Dec. 3:   GOTCHA DAY for Isaac !!!  YEAH!

Tuesday, Dec. 4:  Civil Affairs Appointment (Adoption day)

Wednesday, Dec. 5:  Day trip to Luoyang (Isaac’s town)

for passport appointment & sight seeing

Thursday, Dec. 6:  Free day

Friday, Dec. 7:  Flight to Guangzhou

Saturday – Sunday, Dec. 8-9:  Sightseeing & shopping

Monday, Dec. 10:  GOTCHA DAY for Jennai !!!  YEAH!

Tuesday, Dec. 11:  Civil affairs appointment

Wednesday - Friday, Dec. 12-14:  Adoption appointments and sightseeing

Saturday, Dec. 15:  AM: Children’s medical exams

                                  PM: US Consulate “paperwork party”

Sunday – Tuesday, Dec, 16 – 18:  Sightseeing & shopping

Wednesday, Dec. 19:  Consulate appointment @ 8:30 AM

                                    Consulate Oath-taking ceremony

Thursday, Dec. 20:  Pick up children’s visas and Depart for Hong Kong 

Friday, December 21, 2012

            Fly home!   Depart Hong Kong   @ 11:25 AM

                                       Arrive  N.        @ 1:55  

Isaac and Jennai 

will become US Citizens as soon as

the plane touches down!! 

          Immigration/Customs    Depart      @ 4:29 PM

                                         Arrive P.        @ 5:55 PM

Since I only have 3 hours before I need to get up and head to the airport, maybe... just maybe I should try to get some sleep.  But, maybe I'm just getting ahead on the switching days and nights.  Either way, I think I will try to sleep a little.  Thanks for your prayers.  

Why so surprised?

Why so surprised?

As we’ve been preparing for this adoption trip we have been seeking the Lord’s guidance as we make decisions that will affect our family for a lifetime.  We’ve asked that He provide the funds we need when we need them.  We’ve asked for His timing to be perfect.  We’ve asked for protection and health.   As I’ve reflected on these things, I ask myself, “Why are you so surprised?  Isn’t that what you asked for?”  I’d like to share some of those “surprises” with you.

The latest “surprise” was a financial gift from friends.  One friend gave me an amount and apologized that it wasn’t more.  She said that even though she couldn’t give us more she was praying that God would multiply it 100 fold.  Several days later, another friend handed me an envelope while we were at a meeting.  She said, “Bring those babies home.”  I didn’t open the envelope at that time, but later, when I did open it I wept!  There was the amount – multiplied – 100 fold!  Why so surprised?  Our God is an awesome God!

Another recent “surprise” is the timing of our trip.  Ever since we got our referral acceptance (Sept. 13) I have been praying for travel sometime around the end of November or the first of December.  I (selfishly) didn’t want to travel at Christmas time because I don’t want to have to deal with the crowds at the airports, the higher airfares, etc.  As I looked at other people’s timelines I saw that travel from the referral date was taking close to 4 months.  Some were sooner, but 4 months looked like the average.  But, I kept praying for our Nov/Dec. travel.  On Friday, Nov. 16, I was a little sad and kind of resigned myself to not traveling until next year.  I know God’s timing is perfect, sometimes I just don’t understand His timeframe.  And then the phone rang!  Why so surprised? 

When we started this adoption journey we decided to ask for approval for two children while doing our home study.  We thought it MIGHT be possible, but weren’t really planning on adopting two children at the same time.  But, if we got approval for two on our initial home study, we wouldn’t have to do updates and addendums, adding to the overall cost.  At the end of May, as we were walking up to the post office to mail our letter of intent to adopt Jennai, Guille asked me, “Now what?”  I said, “I guess we wait.”  He very quickly replied, “And keep looking at files!”  I asked him why we would do that.  “We found my sister, now we have to find my brother.”  And that was that.  Why so surprised? 

We looked at a couple of files for little boys but didn’t feel that those were the ones God was preparing for our family.  By now it was the middle of August and we were still waiting for our referral acceptance letter telling us that Jennai was ours.  We were on the road traveling home from Iowa when I used Guillermo’s phone to check my email.  There was a letter from our adoption agency with a newsletter on a new project in Henan province hoping to find families for more children.  As I skimmed through the newsletter, I saw the picture of a little guy riding on a “little tykes” school bus.  I read his information to Guillermo and asked if we could look at his file.  So, from somewhere in mid Illinois we sent our request for Isaac’s file.  We had his file reviewed by an adoption doctor and decided to see if we could proceed with his adoption too.  We sent in our letter of intent to adopt him on August 24.  On that next Monday I got an email from the agency saying that Jennai’s referral acceptance was ready but had not yet been printed.  And, since it had not been printed, we were able to have Isaac’s acceptance expedited and we received RA for both of them on September 13!  God’s timing here:  If we had sent in our letter of intent for Jennai back in February we would have missed Isaac.  And, if we had sent in that letter in February, chances are that Jennai would not have been taken in to a program where they repaired her cleft lip.  While preparing for that surgery they found a hole in her heart and the doctors decided to repair that so it didn’t cause damage to her little body.  So, she has been in the care of an organization that gives pretty much individualized attention to the little ones who need extra TLC since then.  She will have to go back to her home orphanage before we get her (in less than 2 weeks), so we continue to pray for her safety and that all these moves won’t be too hard on her emotionally.  We are so very thankful that God placed her in the care of LWB and the Heartbridge Healing Home.  Why so surprised? 

I need to get busy and get ready to go get my children!  While I continue to prepare, I’ll continue to ponder these things in my heart, the Love of our Heavenly Father and the goodness and great gifts he gives to his children.  I’ll continue to look for those “surprises” and trust Him for the provision of ALL we need.  

It's snowing, it's snowing.

 First Snow of the Season!  I AM SO HAPPY!!

OK, so there wasn't a lot of snow,

but there was enough to build a snowman.

 OK, so maybe there wasn't enough snow to build

a standing up snowman.

But, a lazy snowman is still a snowman.

There was even enough snow to 

"scoop up" two snowmen.

We're trying to get things ready for Christmas 

since there won't be a lot of time

between when we get back from

China

and Christmas.

Guille was a BIG help and decorated the tree

while Guillermo and I worked on trip preparations.

I think he did an awesome job

for only being 5 years old.

Guille has also been staying busy creating things with Le gos.

This robot even has moving parts.

One week from now we will have had Isaac for one night

and it will be noon of the second day with him.

Two weeks from now we will have had Jennai for one night

and it will be noon of the second day with her.

It's hard to believe it is so close.

I have heard that 'blogger' is blocked in China,

so my backup plan is to email our updates 

to a friend (who is adopting 3 little ones from Russia).

She will post the updates for us.  

I told her that she doesn't have to put the captions under all the pictures

and try to figure out what goes where. 

Thank you, Ashley, for doing this for us.

Two more days and we're off! 

We covet your continued prayers for our travels

and for our little ones whose little lives will

soon be turned upside down.

We serve an awesome God

and look forward to what HE has in store for our family.

TEN

Yep, TEN days, and counting!!

If you had asked me last week when we were going to China,

I would have probably said, 

"We're still waiting on travel approval.  Once we get that,

it could be another two to four weeks until we travel."

Well, last week is over and if you ask me today,

I will tell you ... "TEN DAYS!"

Yes, it is unbelievable!  We are still in a bit of a shock, 

though I don't know why since we've been praying for

travel at the end of November or the first of December.

Friday, when the agency called to tell us we had travel approval

I whooped and hollered (with my laryngitis voice)

and marveled at the prospect of traveling so soon.

There was a question as to whether or not we could get

our consulate appointment for that time period

so I didn't let myself get TOO excited.

We did tell family though.

So this morning we got the confirmation that we are leaving on 

November 29!

We'll fly into Beijing and do some site-seeing there.

IF Jennai is still at the care facility in Beijing

we will try to visit her there.  She will have to go back to 

her home province for the "transfer" and adoption finalization.

From Beijing we will travel to Henan province to get Isaac!

FOURTEEN DAYS, Babe!  We're comin' to get ya!

We will spend most of the next week in Isaac's province working on 

paperwork and completing his adoption.

Then we'll travel to Guangdong province where we will get Jennai.

THREE WEEKS, Little One!

Here are a couple of updated pictures that we got of Jennai

last Thursday.  

I can't wait until we can show you more pictures of Isaac.

I WISH we HAD more pictures of Isaac to show you,

but, soon that will change!

Today was a busy day with scheduling new doctor appointments,

changing already scheduled appointments,

making travel arrangements,

printing out paperwork that I have put off printing,

and doing all the "regular" stuff. 

We are still a little (or more) short on funds.

BUT, God has been so faithful to provide what we need

when we need it.

We continue to trust HIM on this journey 

that He has so strongly called us to.

In the meantime,

we press on!

Look out, China, here we come!!