journey of a blessed family

Sorry to leave you hangin'...we arrived home safely, though exhausted, on Friday and have been adjusting to each other and to new schedules and to being a family of 6 and all the joy that comes with jet-lag!

All is well... G did remarkably well on the trip home, he was a super traveler! Only a few yells and cries when I took the remote from him to start a movie in the screen in his seat (that was nice, but we were only on that plane for 4 hours...the 12 hour stretch didn't have in-seat movie selections...boohoo) Other than those few initial tears, he was great. Played with toys, ate, played with more toys, ate, slept only about 3 or 4 hours of the whole 20 hour trip...it was really much better than I could have ever imagined it to be (thanks for your prayers, I'm sure they went a long way in the successful journey)

We were greeted by many family and friends at the airport and were so thankful to see each and every one that could be there. G was a bit overwhelmed by the many new faces, but he eventually came around. We spent the evening with a delicious dinner (and stocked refrigerator) provided by our dear friends and had a good night of sleep.

The weekend was pretty calm just hanging around the house getting used to each other (and washing lots of laundry) We were very glad to get to go to church on Sunday and see many friends (again, G was overwhelmed with so many new faces and spent much of the morning looking the other direction when people spoke to him...but he did very well and started to warm up a bit before the end of the morning...he'll do fine)

We spent a few hours at the park near our house yesterday and he had a GRAND time...i think we'll see much of that park in the days to come!

I'll try to keep you posted on how things are going although I'm finding out that adding a 3 year old to your family is about 3 times harder than adding a newborn....yeah, we missed out on the diaper and bottle stage, but with a newborn you can feed and diaper and dress them and then lay them down for a nap while you get some stuff done...in this scenario we're running around after him and are afraid to let him out of our sight because we're not exactly sure what he's going to do. He screamed in terror the first time he saw our dogs, but they made up with each other (mostly) in the hours that followed. He likes them best when he's standing and they're not...when they're up and walking around, he's not so sure!

We're getting ready to head out for our first trip to W@l-Mart since we got home....that should be fun! We went to the Asian market yesterday and G went crazy wanting everything he saw...I have a feeling we'll be visiting there quite a bit. Til next time....love, d

Quick Greetings from Hong Kong...we left Guangzhou yesterday after our Oath at the Consulate...G LOVED the train ride to Hong Kong...It was much more fun for him to watch out the window than on the plane (I highly recommend it if you want to try something different...very easy, very comfortable and MUCH cheaper than flying out of Guangzhou! about $30 each) What little we had time to see of Hong Kong was beautiful...hope to make it back here for more than 3 waking hours next time! The Harbor Light show was fantastic and finally an indoor swimming pool...G thought it was fun, but has no concept of fear of water; uh oh! We're headed to the airport in about 5 minutes, so we're signing off from China (Hong Kong)....See you back in the states with the WHOLE blessed family :-) love, d

Today was a wonderful, relaxing, blessed day. We went to church on Shamian Island and again, as last time I was in China, I was amazed and overwhelmed by hearing the gospel--the true, gospel of Jesus Christ, preached in a country that I thought didn't allow it. This wasn't watered-down, half-truth...but the message of Christ preached to whomever showed up to listen. It was wonderful. Before leaving church, I asked the pastor to pray over G...I thought it extra-special to have a Christian native to his homeland pray for him and I was honored that he obliged to do so.

We spent last night sleeping on the softest bed I can remember (at our friends', The W family's apartment)--for some unknown reason beds in China are HARD...like rock hard...bruise your hipbones by the end of the trip hard! A nice, American mattress was an extra special treat! We enjoyed great company yesterday and today with our friends and their two sweet girls (who are also our friends!); we had pancakes and blueberry muffins for breakfast; Starbucks before church; Played games and puzzles and painted and played play-doh with G; Mr. W and J and I enjoyed an hour-long foot massage (and legs and back and shoulders and neck, really) at a wonderful spa; A delicious Italian dinner; it was an all-around fabulous day! We are so thankful for this respite with the W family--like a vacation in the middle of our trip (which should also seem like a vacation, but the paperwork and the stress of bonding with a new child and traveling in unknown places (with a new child) is really not the vacation you might imagine it to be) The W's have gone far out of their way and above and beyond to welcome us into their home and into their family and to make us feel welcome and rested and loved--we will be eternally grateful and thankful for all they have done! W family--YOU ROCK!!

We will join up with the rest of our travel group (2 families from Beijing and 4 more that we haven't met yet) tomorrow morning and will move back to hotel life and finish up the final pieces of paperwork and formalities (physical exam and visa pictures) And then there's the shopping that MUST be done before we return home! (yes, it's required!!) Our friends introduced us to some markets I was unaware of the last time I was here--I've included a few pics below--'made in china' paradise!! :-) I may need an extra suitcase! (I'm going to try to behave, though!)

G's transition continues to be smooth. Here are some facts we've gathered about G:

• happy, active child
• doesn't like chocolate
• LOVES noodles (but not mac n cheese) and meat
• also LOVES bathtime
• repeats almost everything
• very independent
• eats a hard-boiled egg every morning (and likes to peel it himself...and anyone else's egg, too)
• prefers to sleep without socks (and without covers by morning--feet must be out--HE'S MINE FOR SURE!)
• likes to sing and be sung to
• falls asleep almost every time we're in the car for more than 15 minutes
• likes seeing himself on Skype (and is now beginning to look at the people on the other end of the call as well...)

We're enjoying every minute with him...can't wait to get him home! Gotta get to bed now...even tired at the end of relaxing days...blessings ~ d

Ok...I'm behind on my blogging...busy, toddler boy and busy days of excursions and jetlag are all combining to kick my butt when it comes to the blog...It's 10 pm and we've been up and on the move since 4:30 am, so I'm not sure how much longer I can keep my eyes open...here goes:

Thankful for:

• Safe, uneventful flight from Nanning to Guangzhou--G was a good traveler (1 hr down, 18 or so more in the air on Friday)
• Successful beginning of the final leg of this trip...now in Guangzhou to get G's visa to come to the US
• For friends in Guangzhou who have sacrificed their family time to pick us up at the airport and host us for the weekend (in quite wonderful and spacious accomodations, I might add which leads to next thankful point)
• Room for G to run and some wonderful new friends for him to play with for a few days
• American food for lunch and dinner (REAL american food, not something called a hamburger that had no resemblance whatsoever...ask J about that one)
• Guangzhou shopping haven (trying to keep money in my wallet...really, I am!)
• Many prayers lifted up for us...keep 'em coming!
• Successful bonding in the works with G...I won't say he loves us yet, but he's content to be with us and that's certainly a good first step
• Much more that I can't think of right now...travel-weary foggy brain...

I haven't loaded all of today's pics, but here are some from yesterday that I missed posting and a few from this morning...love you all ~ d

I don't even know where to start...I've delayed in starting this post for several hours because I can't quite put it into words yet...Yesterday was ______ ? I don't know how to describe it...beautiful, emotional, touching, sad, happy....so many things mixed into one. We toured G's city--which according to the guide is VERY small (45,000 people?), but to us, it looked like a bustling city. I think S and I both were thinking it would be rural because we'd heard 'small', but it wasn't. We drove through 'rural' for a few hours between Nanning and Qinzhou--farmland, rice fields, water buffalo, pretty scenery--but the city itself looked like a city...the buildings weren't as tall as Nanning or Beijing, but there were still blocks and blocks of buildings, storefronts, hotels, banks--regular city stuff--McDonalds :-) And LOTS of people, cars, bikes...

We visited the orphanage first...Ms. Huang met us outside and we had been told ahead of time that we could not come in...only see the outside, but it was very windy and COLD and so Ms. Huang took us upstairs to a conference room with Hot Tea! Bless her! We had the privilege of meeting a little boy who's forever family was just identified last week--the new mom (from Spain) had emailed me on Tuesday to ask me to inquire about her son and Ms. Huang arranged to have his foster mom bring him to the orphanage while we were there. So, we were able to take several photos and video clips which I have happily forwarded on to his mom. (Many of you probably remember that I had the same joy of receiving surprise pictures of G last year when my bloggy friend, Mrs. Ladyblog, visited Qinzhou with her new daughter....I was honored to pass on the tradition!)

G had fun running around the conference room with his new little friend and he also decided he wanted to be the photographer, and he claimed our little flip video camera. (he thinks it is a still camera though and so he points it, presses the 'on' button and then drops his hand so every video he takes starts out well, but ends up filming his pants or shoes or the floor--before we could forcibly remove the camera from his little tight grip about 20 minutes later, he had taken more than 50 1-5 second videos!! )

G recognized Ms. Huang and knew where he was, but was not the least bit upset about being at the orphanage...he didn't cling to me or S; he didn't cry when we got there or when we left...I don't really think he cared one way or the other that we were there? Not sure if that's good or bad or really doesn't matter. We had discussed with David and Ms. Huang earlier in the week whether we could meet the foster family, but Ms Huang said his departure from his foster family had been very traumatic on Monday and that he had screamed and cried in the car to Nanning to meet us, so they felt like since we were off to a positive start during our 'harmonious period' that they didn't want to damage that bond that we had begun to form. I understand their viewpoint and while a bit disappointed, do agree that things are going well with us and I don't want to jeopardize that either. Perhaps we can get in touch with them sometime in the future...we will send pictures and updates to the orphanage, maybe the foster family will send some things back.

Next stop after our goodbyes at the orphanage, was G's 'Finding Spot' and this, by far, has been the most difficult part of the trip for me yet. I was very tearful when I got out of the van and stepped foot on the pavement that my son had been left on...I imagined him at just a few weeks shy of a year old wandering around crying for his mother...on a busy, city sidewalk just a few feet from passing vehicles...Oh, the heart wrenching experience it had to be for him....and for her...As a mom myself, I can not fathom the pain that comes with deciding that you can no longer care for your sick child and to realize that you can not lean on family, friends, or even government support to help you through...To come to the decision that the best, and only, thing you can do for your child is leave him.....I could just barely take it. As I was holding him tightly and crying and the dam was about to burst, my sweet husband looked at me and said, "but he was found!" Praise God--he was found!! First by a kind police officer who took him to be cared for at the orphanage...next by a kind foster mom and family who have loved him for more than 2 years and now, found by us...his forever family! I pray that someday in the not too distant future that his final 'finding' will be when he learns of and discovers the one, true God who loves him and wants to be his real 'forever baba'...Praise God--he was lost but now he's found! He was abandoned but now he will be loved and cared for...We are truly blessed--the whole family!


[I'm pausing again for a bit while we go to visit the Minority Village....more to come...love you all]