Red Couch

I came across our Red Couch photos the other day and realized that, with many thanks to the Great fireWall, I never posted those. Oops!

The red couches are at the White Swan Hotel where we stayed in Guangzhou. This was the last stop on our China trip. I understand that the White Swan is going to close for a year for renovations, and that we were the last travel group that our adoption agency booked at the White Swan before it closes.

It is tradition to take photos of your newly adopted child on the red couch. Here they are:



All the newly adopted little kids

The little kids plus the newly adopted 13 year old girl who would have aged out and not been eligible for international adoption after she turned 14 later this year

Travel Group #1755

I must say it again, it is good to be home :-D

(((hugs))),
chris

Keepin' It Real in China

***I wrote this while we were in China right before we met

The Great fireWall and lost our internet***

This has been a rough experience for both Jason and I. We are tired. We are frustrated.

We are on someone else's schedule for the paperwork, and the office hours here are ridiculously short so we wait extra days between submitting forms and receiving paperwork. In the US we believe we would get our paperwork back the next day. It's frustrating.

China is crowded and dirty. We appreciate the emissions regulations we have in the U.S. better now. The air is smoggy, and it doesn't clear - it only lightens. We will both have smokers' cough when we get home. We are used to walking dangerously close to moving cars and electric bicyles now. Doesn't even phase us. And even the hotel carpet is dirty - the boys' feet are dirty after playing on it for a while. It's gross.

Every single time we leave our room is an adventure, just trying to navigate Chinese culture and language differences. We expected that, but after a while it's also frustrating.

The staring didn't bother us at all, until we had Samuel. People stare in horror at his facial deformity. Horror. Some people stare in horror at David's scars from his lip surgery, which we hardly even see. I (Chris) just want to poke their eyes out... but we look back kindly and smile. Trying to be Christ-like in our actions... Trying to remember that people who look different just never make it out in everyday life here in China. People who look different are the "less-thans", the people who are tossed aside, outcasts, bad luck, whatever. Now some people are extra kind, and go out of their way to make Samuel smile and laugh, especially the hotel workers. People ask about their cleft issues, so we take this as God giving us an opportunity to teach & reach. We so appreciate that.

Does anyone enjoy taking two toddlers out to eat in restaurants? We have to do that for almost every meal. It sucks.

Hotel living is bad enough when you are there by yourself. Then you add two little munchkins who are grieving, who you can hardly communicate with, who are having trouble sleeping, and who have voracious appetites... it's rough.

A beautiful friend of mine just told me this the other day:

It's like a gift wrapped in really ugly paper.

It's a gift to have the time to bond, to get to know the munchkins. It's a gift to not have our normal life responsibilities while we do this for the first two or three weeks. It's a gift to have our #1 son at home being loved on by people who love him.

In those happy moments here in China, when the boys are smiling and playing together, when they respond well to their new Mama and Baba, we know that things will be OK. David and Samuel are amazing! We know these munchkins are a gift from God.

These are our children we have been waiting on for five years.

Ain't no doubt about it :)

But I must say, it sure will be nice to be home.
(((hugs))),
chris


Hebrews 4:16  Let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will
receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

They Are Both Officially Ours!!!

Today was Adoption Day for Samuel! He is quite the Daddy's-Boy, by the way :)

Jason feeds him.
Jason dresses him.
Jason carries him. Everywhere.
Jason changes him.
Jason comforts him.
Jason puts him to sleep.

I (Chris) am so totally fine with that! Our #1 back at home is a complete Mama's Boy, our new #2 is turning out to be a Mama's Boy, so it's about time that we had a kid who is all about Daddy :) Let's make it #3!!!

Actually, today Samuel let me play with him more, and he smiled at me too. We're making progress.

The other kids in our group are super-cute too. I'm not posting pics today (sorry!) because it takes soooooo long to load them. I'm not in the most super-happiest place today, and don't feel like dealing with computer irritations.You'll get more pics the next time I blahblahblog at you :)

Today we went to the Registration Office to sign our official adoption papers. Then we went to the Notary Office to have our papers notarized. Things are much better here in Henan province because 1) we're with a group so we have other English-speaking people to talk to, 2) we're with a group so we all take a bus rather than trying to catch cabs, 3) our agency does adoptions in this province alot, so our guides are very familiar with what we need and when we need it.

11 down, 9 to go...
(((hugs))),
chris


Joshua 1:9  This is my command -- be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Gotcha Day #2!!!!

We've got him! When we met Samuel, he cried and cried! He had to leave his foster family, then had a long train ride, then a taxi ride, and he seemed really tired and really hungry. The first order of business was a bath... he cried and cried, but some things ya just gotta do. He has really taken right to his Baba, and took a bottle from him right away. We had lunch in our room (he ate a ton) and is taking a good nap right now.
Without further adieu...

Galatians 2:20  My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

And now there are three...

Baba made it to Zhengzhou! Woo hoo!

When David saw his Baba, he ran up to him with his arms stretched out. Jason picked him up and hugged him. David had that look of wonder in his eyes again, and said, "Baba", then kissed Jason. Wow.

We then came back to the room, and David and Jason played for a while with a balloon. They had a blast! Then, after a cup of milk, I put David in bed for a nap. He fell asleep quickly, even while Jason unpacked his suitcase. Jas and I talked for a while, and then Jason went to the bank with the group to exchange money. I wish I could have gone to the bank so I could spend time with the other families, but we didn't want David to wake up with me gone, and be scared. I guess there will be time to get to know the other families.

And I think it's good Jason gets the China bank experience too... though it won't be as exciting as my experience in Shanxi :-)  I'll bet a yuan on that.

Jason has hardly even seen a squatty-potty. In Shanxi, I hardly saw a western toilet or a fork. I guess I have the advantage, having had the "full" Chinese experience, eh? Nothing like feeding yourself and a small Chinese person with chopsticks at most meals. It's not pretty. Another day, another post...

I digress...

Today is all about Baba. What a beautiful day we had!

2 Corinthians 4:7  We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

All About David

OK, everyone, repeat David's Chinese name after me:

"You-Anne You-Anne"

Now say it really fast. OK, good! You did great! That's what we're calling him for now, until he learns his new English name. It's spelled like this: Yuan Yuan.

He is a doll! He is sweet, and content, and obedient. He is talkative (though I have no idea what he's saying hee hee) and he sings songs. He and I have traveled so much in planes, vans, buses, and taxis, and he is a happy little travel partner. He likes me (except when I tell him to NOT open the door or touch the computer :) and he asks me for kisses and hugs.

He is so cool.

He doesn't like every single food, but he eats just about everything. I know that someone at some point in his little life has brushed his teeth, read books to him, and sang songs to him. He likes his hands and face to be clean. He asks me to clean his hands after every single bite of food. He sleeps and naps well, and loves his bath. He plays with toys appropriately. He loves to walk up and down stairs, and jump off the bottom step.

I can't wait for his Baba to meet him tomorrow...

(((hugs))),
chris

Beijing Day

Ni hao! I made it to China! My guide, Cindy, has been taking excellent care of me! Beijing is a ginormous city, so yesterday afternoon after Cindy dropped me off at the hotel, and after traveling for 27 hours, what would a normal person decide to do? Take a nap? Rest? I decided to go for a walk. Around Beijing. By myself.

I totally blend in here.

I walked for about an hour and a half. I think I went pretty far, but I have no idea where I was! I only got a little lost (I knew the general direction of the hotel kind of) and I did find my way back by myself. It was an adventure!

Chris on the Great Wall of China

I slept great last night and think I adjusted to this time zone right away. Cindy took me to the Great Wall today. She wimped out and only walked partway up, so I kept going. I wish that someday I could hike a long ways on it. It is so huge and so beautiful and so old.

T minus 3 for the hubby.

Our first Gotcha Day is tomorrow... stay tuned...

(((hugs))) from China,
chris


John 14:27  I am leaving you with a gift - peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid.

Weather Forecast

We are gathering appropriate sweaty-hot-weather clothes to bring on our trip, so I decided to look up the weather reports where we will be traveling in China...

Today's Weather Report:

Home:
Longmont, Colorado     High=86 degrees   Humidity=30%   Heat index=84 degrees

Our first couple days in China together:
Beijing, China               High=87 degrees   Humidity=37%   Heat index=86 degrees

Jason will travel here (kinda feels like home so far, eh?):
Datong, China              High=79 degrees   Humidity=32%   Heat index=79 degrees

Chris will travel here (I guess the humidity can be much higher... ugh):
Zhengzhou, China        High=92 degrees   Humidity=40%   Heat index=92 degrees

We'll meet here for the 2nd half of our trip (yikes!):
Guangzhou, China       High=97 degrees   Humidity=60%   Heat index=110 degrees
         (interesting fact=the humidity rises to about 80% at night, which keeps
             the heat index near 95 degrees all night long)

So glad we're planning to bring clothes that dry quickly :-D


Psalm 19:1  The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Today is the Chinese New Year, and we are welcoming the Year of the Rabbit. What is that all about? Here's what I found:

Chinese New Year 4709, or 2011 in the Western calendar, is the Year of the Metal Rabbit. The Rabbit represents the fourth year in the 12 year cycle of the Chinese zodiac.

Like the houses of the zodiac in Western astrology, the animals of Chinese astrology are thought by many to dictate personality traits or, in the wider scope of things, even impact world events in any year they rule.
The year of the Rabbit is traditionally associated with home and family, artistic pursuits, diplomacy, and keeping the peace. Therefore, 2011 is very likely to be a relatively calmer one than 2010 both on the world scene, as well as on a personal level
So this is interesting since it is part our sons' Chinese culture. We pray that 2011 will be calmer and filled with peace. We pray 2011 is all about home and family. That would be really cool. If that happens, we don't believe it is because the astrological calendar page caused it to happen. We believe in God, we believe life happens because it is part of His plan, and we keep our eyes focused on Him.


Psalm 27:4 The one thing I ask of the Lord—
      the thing I seek most—
   is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
      delighting in the Lord’s perfections
      and meditating in his Temple.

Why China?

I was talking with someone earlier this week that I just met and the topic of kids came up. He has two boys. I shared that we have one boy and two on the way, and that we are adopting the two from China. He responded, "Have you considered domestic adoption?" .........

...................long pause.................

I said, "Yes." My "fantasy conversation" would have gone very much differently. What a strange and inappropriate thing to ask someone you just met. As if a mega-huge decision like adopting would not be thoroughly researched or well thought out. Which got me thinking about the route we took when we decided on China.

We have always wanted more children. At least two, but three or four kids is kind of where we pictured our family. So we started with one beautiful baby boy in 2005. We decided to start trying for number 2 in May of 2006. Over the next three years, the Lord took our next six babies. So we know about loss. We explored adoption around this time and couldn't afford a traditional adoption, and fost-adopt left such a big door open for potential heartache and more loss. We felt like we were setting ourselves up to be hurt again, so we decided against that. Our wounds were still raw. Our hearts still hurting. We decided that the Lord blessed us with one beautiful baby boy, and we should be happy with that. So we downsized ~ smaller house, smaller car. We mostly healed and felt like we were exactly where we were supposed to be.

Then God decided to stir things up for us again. He opened the door. He presented us with just enough money for an adoption... so we prayed... and we know that He provided the financial means ~ what we perceived as our biggest obstacle ~ so we knew what we were called to do.

We started by ruling out options that wouldn't work for us. First we decided against domestic adoption. We have known several families who have been matched and traveled to pick up their baby, only for the birth parents to decide to keep the baby. That had too much potential for more loss and heartache. We still felt we were not supposed to do fost-adopt for the same reasons. That left international adoption. We looked at different countries' programs and ruled out a bunch of countries for things like travel time (some require multiple trips and/or extended stays), or we didn't meet certain criteria for adoptive parents, or some countries adoption programs are very new or not stable. Through this process we kept being directed to China adoption and specifically to CCAI (our adoption agency). Our good friends had applied with CCAI to adopt from China. We kept running into people we know in random places who had adopted from China and had great experiences with our specific adoption agency. A few had used CCAI for two separate adoptions. We had narrowed ourselves down to China and South Korea, but God kept directing us toward CCAI and China. So we listened. And the Lord has given us peace throughout this process.

He was answering our prayers, in His time, and we were supposed to have more children His way. Why China? Because that's where God put our boys.


Luke 2:14   "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."