An amazing adventure

What to say, after going through such an amazing time and seeing God work in an amazing way.  I am almost at a loss for words, but I will power on and try to put down what this experience has been like for us.  When we started the process, I don't think we understood the impact it would have on us and on our family.  I don't think we realized, because we were so busy doing paperwork and having meetings, and obsessing over dates and everything else,  but we didn't realize how amazing the process of adoption is.  We arrived in China after a couple of days in Hong Kong, feeling more like tourists.  The guides gave us a quick tour and told us about local attractions, but truly we were not there for local attractions, we were there to adopt a child.  When we got to the facility where we were receiving Grace, we were with about 10-15 other couples also waiting for their children.  There was a sense of excited anticipation in the room.  It was chaotic, and we just sat back and watched as each of the families was united with their child.  We were told Grace hadn't arrived yet, so we just enjoyed other people's moments.  It was amazing to see the excitement so many had for their new child.  These were orphans. Children abandoned by the ones that are supposed to love them most on this earth.  I am so glad my father in heaven is not like a parent on earth, and he will not abandon us.  After what seemed like an eternity, we saw this tiny little peanut carried into the room.  We didn't think it was Grace because she was so tiny.  When they came and got us, and told us that was our daughter, I was overcome.  I had the exact same feelings with her, that I had with each of my biological children.  I was instantly in love and awe of this precious little thing in my arms.  She was screaming.  Scared and absolutely overcome with the craziness of the moment.  She was removed from the only thing she had ever known.  It doesn't matter that she was sleeping in a crib with a wood bottom and metal bars, with no blankets and no cushions, or that she had never really been held and cuddled.  She didn't know what she was missing, and wanted what was familiar.  Does that sound similar to a person who has not yet accepted the gift of Jesus Christ and salvation?  You cling to what you know and what is comfortable, not understanding how amazing it is when you surrender your life to God.  We know Grace's life will never be the same and will be so much better, but she didn't know that.  She would startle every time I would move with her.  Holding her was so foreign, she was scared by it.  She was so tiny, I just felt I needed to protect her.  I was changed in a drastic way that day.  I knew what it was to see someone that was not loved and what that does to them.  Love is powerful and it completes us.  It is what makes a person a person.  We just surrounded her and talked to her and calmed her, and if we sat in one place and didn't move, she would calm down and just look.  She has the biggest eyes.  She is constantly just studying people.  That first day was a shock to me.  It was a shock to see how small and neglected our daughter was.  It was a shock to feel such emotion for a person we had just met.  It was a shock to realize she was no longer an orphan.  I am a different person inside, and I will never be the same.  I am thankful.  I will get into the story more next post, but it is late and I am tired.  I am back on solo duty as Mike is back to work.  He is enjoying a quiet hotel room, (just kidding honey, I know you are lonely and miss us too), and the kiddos are all asleep.  Grace has settled into our little family and is just another Kelly.  She sleeps very well now that she has adjusted to our time zone.  She is healthy and eating pretty well.  She is learning how to eat solids.  We are seeing a surgeon soon to discuss her cleft lip and palate and what our plan of action is.  She loves her siblings and she is learning to like the cat and dog.  She loves to be held and played with.  We love having her in our family.

A walk in the park

Daddy caught Grace staring into mama's eyes.  What a great feeling to have this little person we loved from afar, now in our arms.  It is the most amazing thing.

The Chinese people play a version of hacky sack.  It uses a bundle of feathers with a weight on the end.  It is done by people of all ages.  Mike joined in a couple of times.  

We also saw the all American game of basketball going on.

The park is huge and beautiful and peaceful and friendly, but right outside the gates is a street so busy, we can't even cross it.  We have to use the subway tunnels beneath the streets to get to the park, but the reality of the city just melts away when you start wandering the park's paths. We spent quite a bit of time there.  The hotel began to feel claustrophobic after the first week there.

More pictures

We caught a grin.  We have seen more and more personality emerging.  She is such a sweetie.  We can't wait to watch her become the little person she is.

I decided to take some progressive pictures while she is eating.  She has a good appetite, but it takes quite awhile to feed her.  She is learning how to keep food in, but we still lose a lot through her cleft lip.

Pictures

This post will just be a collection of the photos we have taken the last few day.  Just two more nights here in China, then one in Hong Kong and then we begin our long trek home.  I can not wait!

This is the pagota in the middle of the Buddhist temple we visited.  What a sad place.  There were many people there making offerings to this dead god Buddha.  We are so thankful we serve a living God, who we have seen working through this entire process.

We visited then Chen house.  It is a historic house that displays the art forms the region is famous for, ivory carving, jade carving, embroidery and the fourth I can't seem to remember, so I must have missed it.  The house, pictured in part below, was beautiful and ornate inside and out.  In the back,we were given a view of some Guangzhou housing, which is pictured above.

She smiled!!!

We had a busy day yesterday.  I don't have the patience right now to deal with my pictures, so this will just be a brief narrative of our day.  The canton trade fair is in town and I think it is severely slowing the Internet here at the hotel.  So, I will try and add pictures later possibly.  We have some neat pictures to share because we visited a Buddhist temple, a historic house, then of course a place to shop, but it was also a very beautiful display of Chinese arts and crafts.  Grace did fine during all of the tours, but screamed on the bus.  We are continuing to pray she gets used to being in a vehicle before we start our trip home Wednesday night with a four hour van ride.  We imagine her first ride in a vehicle a week ago, when she was being brought to us, wasn't a super experience.  We can only guess how it went, but it would have been 5 and 1/2 hours with people that told us the only way to calm her was to lay her down (thankfully not true, she loves being cuddled).  Big news from our day though, is that Grace finally smiled at us.  Daddy has a way of finding a kid's tickle spot.  I didn't think she had any, because she has been so somber since we got her, but last night at dinner, she was really relaxed and dad found the spot under her arm.  Her smile is gorgeous.  I had given up on seeing her smile for awhile because she is so serious, so it was a wonderful surprise to see.  God is amazing and he is showing us the huge impact love has on a person.
 We only have two more nights here in Guangzhou, then one in Hong Kong, then we get to come home.  I miss home so much.  I miss my babies most of all, but I also miss my life.  I have a much more global perspective on things now, so I will never be the same.  I want to see the result of my changed perspective.

Life as we know it

So, I apologize for previous grammatical errors and oddities with my blog.  It is near impossible to edit.  Fun times.  We are getting a bit stir crazy.  The trip is beginning to drag and we all want to come home to our family.  We miss the kids so much.  We have been seeing different parts of the city.  Grace hates riding in the car.  She screams every time we get in one.  She cried so hard last night, she threw up all over me.  Unfortunately it was on the way to a very fancy dinner with some of Mike's Chinese co workers.  We had a very nice time, but I stunk.  We are praying, and maybe you could too, that she gets used to traveling before we head for home, starting with a 3 1/2 hour van ride to Hong Kong on Wednesday.  It will be a very long drive if she isn't used to the car by then.

 So, the big news is, Grace is letting us hold her when she eats.  She would lie flat on her back and hold her own bottle, but she has started allowing us to hold her, and this evening, she allowed me to hold the bottle.  It is amazing to see the progress she is making.  She is not the scared little peanut we picked up 6 days ago.  She is beginning to see us as friendly ;)

We visited Shamian Island.  It used to be the hub of Chinese adoption.  Since the government offices that used to be there have moved, the island is much quieter. We enjoyed walking through the quiet streets.  We found a Starbucks, of course, and enjoyed a little coffee boost.  Grace didn't seem overly interested.  Oh well, some day.  

The island was full of people taking pictures.  I guess there are a lot of brides that come to the island for pictures before their wedding day.  Gorgeous brides everywhere.  The picture below was of what looked like a fashion shoot.  They were working on the girls hair and make up.  We enjoyed seeing different portions of Chinese culture.  In the park, we saw people dancing and singing.  It was really cool.  We also saw people swimming in the Pearl river.  Brave.  People really do life together and it is a stark contrast to our culture.  I am impressed with it.  

Yay it is Friday already

I am enjoying having alone time with Grace, but I am missing my sweet babies at home so much.  I am so excited we will be home in less than a week. Today we are missing the big rivalry cross country meet at St. George's. I know the boys will do their best, but them running is one of my favorite things to watch.  
Here is China, we have a day free of meetings and paperwork, so we are heading to the island famous in adoption circles, Shamian Island.  Adoption trips used to center on the island because the medical exam and consulate was located there.  Well, they are now in other parts of the city, so the island is quieter.  I am kind of craving quieter, so we are going to head there.  The hustle and bustle of the city is amazing and interesting, but I crave quiet.
The little miss is changing so much.  I look at her gotcha day pictures and can't quite believe how far she has come.  She was so scared and overwhelmed.  It just makes a mom's heart ache when she can't comfort her precious child.  All baby Grace saw was strangers.  She also was sick in the car ride in, and she was coming down with a cold.  Needless to say, she was not happy.  Now she will sit quietly and just look around.  She enjoys being touch and is learning how to be held.  Initially her arms and legs would flail like a newborn, but now she grabs me around the neck like she doesn't want to let go.  I love it.

There are a couple of beautiful parks we have enjoyed walking in.  We are next to a koi pond full of hundreds of large koi.

The goat statue is the symbol of the city and at the center of the park.  It was quite a hike up a lot of stairs, but it was pretty cool when we got there.  

This is a man in the park playing a hand saw.  He played Jingle bells for us.  The picture below looks like Grace was wondering where her daddy went.  Silly girl.

Well enough rambling.  Now I will get to the part I know you all enjoy. The pictures.

Just a quick update

Ok, so I am still struggling with the whole Internet censorship thing here and trying to get pics on the blog.  Instead of pushing all the buttons in frustration, I will just update with what I have.  I am sitting here next to my sleeping baby girl. She is exhausted.  She has been sick since we got her and we were concerned she may have advanced to an ear infection, so we decided to start her on antibiotics so she can start to heal before we take a loooooong plane ride.  We are hoping she starts to feel better soon.  My victory for today was, she didn't cry when she woke up this morning.  She just layed there looking at us.  Mike also got to see her grin, but I missed it because I was carrying her.  Hopefully the grins will become more frequent soon.  She really is starting to relax and get comfortable with us.  Right now I am sitting in our room at the Marriott, which could be any Marriott in American, except, this is our view.  We are in the heart of a big city in China.  It is like nothing I have ever experienced before.  I will never be the same.  

We went for a walk.  I could not upload any more pictures, or I would have shared the market with you.  Since coming here, I believe I am vegetarian.  The fruits and veggies are amazing, but the meat is frightening!!!!  I am eating lots of fruits, veggies and carbs.  Pretty sure that will be my diet until we leave.  The market was so awe inspiring.  The meat was just laying out there for us to examine.  There was not a piece of ice or a cooler in site.  People were cutting up live chickens right in the market.  There were many bits of meat I did not recognize and I am not sure I want to recognize.  Obviously this is the way people eat, so they are used to it, but I am not very interested in trying authentic Chinese after seeing that.  The rice is good.

Gotcha day

 On our way to the civil affairs office. The traffic is CRAZY. See the guy pulling boxes down the middle of the street?  Cars just swerved around. Pedestrians just walk between cars.  Crazy!    

 Mike and I at the civil affairs office.  We were one of the last families to get our baby because she arrived late.  I couldn't believe it was her when they walked in because she is so tiny.

 Gotcha moment.  No other words needed.

 

She was so tiny and precious.  It was an amazing moment.  When I get back to civilization, I will blog about the whole journey so far, but with the crazy technology, it is a struggle to get much on here.  Just know, we are feeling God's presence, even in Communist China.  He is here and he is mighty.  Seeing baby Grace react with so much fear, even though her life is changing for the better, gives me such a vivid picture of us before we are adopted in the family of God. There is so much more in a life lived for Christ, but before we realize that, we are so lost and afraid.  Thank you God for adopting me!

Tuesday night.

May I begin by saying my blog has issues. Because of the many steps we have to take to get through the Chinese security, I can only do what I can do. I know you all just want pictures anyway, so here are a few. Hopefully I will be able to get more after I finish this post. 

This is baby Grace on day 2. We are trying to teach her to feed herself, hence the puff on my nose. From her expression, obviously she thinks her mama is crazy ;) .

She really seems to enjoy eating solids. She has never eaten them before. She has lived solely on formula mixed with rice cereal. Probably why she is 20 months old and only weighs 17 pounds.

This picture is taken at the civil affairs office after she officially became our daughter. She was snuggled right in. It is not like holding any other baby I have ever held. She has no idea how to be held. I am keeping her close to teach her, but we realize it will take time.

This is baby Grace on gotcha day with daddy and I and the three ladies that brought her 5 1/2 hours from her orphanage. Two of the women are nannies and the other is director of the orphanage. Grace was car sick and managed to catch cold on her way in as well as getting 4 molars right now. Needless to say, she has had a rough time. We are loving on her constantly and we see slight changes. We pray she continues to get used to us and starts to receive our love.

Hong Kong

Greetings from Hong Kong.  We are laying here trying to adjust to the time change, but my body is telling me it should be sleeping, not hanging out at 6:30 PM.  We got in late last night, and were able to go right to sleep, then we woke up and had a full day today.  We started out at Starbucks, and I would like you all to notice, we spent $59 at Starbucks on coffee.  The US dollar is worth 7.5 times as much as the Hong Kong dollar, but sometimes in the US, I feel like I am spending that much on coffee.  Starbucks is the same the world over, just in case you were concerned.  I have been able to order my exact same drink as I order back home, and it has tasted the same.  What a relief. 

After enjoying our coffee, we met with our guide, Matthew and took a tour of Hong Kong.  We were top of some "mountain" and were able to take pictures of the city.  You could actually see better than my picture is portraying, but it was pretty hazy.  The last month in the smoky northwest has prepared us for less than clear skies.  We were with 6 other families on our tour.  All of them are adopting with us and 2 families are adopting from the same province.  We will see each other get our children on Monday.  One family is on their second adoption, and the other is adopting their first child.  It will be so neat to experience this amazing time with familiar faces, since we have to be all the way over here without our friends and family.  It makes it less sterile.  Many of the families in the group went the non special needs route, and so have been waiting 6 plus years to get their child.  It is such a long journey for them.  We have been waiting a year and it has felt like an eternity.  (and don't laugh at my hair, it seems to be expanding in the humidity and wind)

 Another place we visited was a jewelry factory.  Mike kept exclaiming that the equipment the men were using to work on the jewelry was the same that his Dad and grandfather had worked on in their store.  It was neat to see that the trade has not modernized so much, and it is still done by hand with the same tools that have been used for decades. 

We also visited the Aberdeen (yes, that is the name of the town I was born in) fishing village.  The group was given the option of taking a quick boat tour, but since the motion of the bus was already making me quite queasy, Mike and I opted to walk the water front.  We saw many different people doing many different things.  I appreciated this woman that looked like she was preparing bait.  I took the picture from a distance, though I know she noticed me.  I enjoyed seeing her sitting their doing a task she probably does everyday.  It makes me feel less foreign.  This is where people live, just like I live in Washington.  I see people doing normal everyday things, and it calms me.  I have been so busy the last month getting ready to come here, it is nice to be able to relax and enjoy what is going on around us.  The people are just people and the city is just a city.  I may feel differently after we arrive in China tomorrow.  We'll see.  In th mean time, I am going to lay here and enjoy watching soccer on TV and waiting for the time to come when I will be able to skype with my kiddos back home.  Tomorrow we take the train into mainland China.  It is about a 2 hour ride, and we will be met at the train station by another CCAI rep.  They do a really good job of preparing us and keeping us to the correct schedule.  I am so very impressed with anyone that is organized and maintains a schedule.  Ask mom as she is home with a binder of instructions for my kids and their schedules :).