More of China...

So my daily blogging of the trip got a bit off track... Some because we haven't done much that required blogging about, but mostly because we have just been trying to keep the tiny terror safe and well until we can get her home! And that's taking a lot of energy 😆 she's seeming to mellow out some, behavior wise, and has learned some boundaries (we think), and is also well aquainted with the word NO by now 😂. For a few days after we met her, we couldn't really take her anywhere besides walking around with her contained in the stroller, but we've managed a few restaurants now and a few other things with our guide.
Friday, the 18th, we left Hangzhou and flew to Guangzhou, where the American consulate is, to finish up the paperwork needed to bring her to the US. It's so much nicer to be in Guangzhou, we aren't the only strange looking Americans to be stared at! The Chinese aren't shy about staring.
Tomorrow, Tuesday the 22nd, is our consulate appointment, and then we wait for Zuris visa to be picked up and delivered to us. And then we come home on Friday!! I am missing the 5 children at home so much! Plus it's not like a sauna at home. Guangzhou is a tropical climate, and so humid. I can't even imagine being here in the dead of summer... Plus China doesn't seem to be real big on air conditioning😓 And I really like air conditioning.
Today (Monday) we went to Shamian Island, and walked down Pedestrian street, was pretty fun. Also got to see the herb market ( think dried worms, snakes, scorpions,ect.) Interesting. And all the pics from that are on the camera :(
We ate supper at pizza hut, Mathan got duck pizza, while I played it safe with a nice Cobb salad!

We leave the hotel at 7:45 am Friday to go to the train station to take the train to Hong Kong to fly home. We fly from Hong Kong to Dallas, then from Dallas to Denver, get in at Denver around 8 PM on Friday, spend the night there, then fly out of Denver to Hays at 10am on Sat. To say we are ready to get home is a bit of an understatement!  We are also dreading the flights home just a little... our girl is not known for her patient quiet sitting. Pretty sure there will be a plane load of people that will be glad to never see us again. 

China day 3--meet Zuri day!

We have her! After all that paperwork, some tears, and lots of frustrations, we have her on our arms. She is spunky and on the go constantly, but sweet and charming also. Pretty sure she's not used to being told no 😰 

 

This was very soon after meeting her, she was unsure about us. Everytime we picked her up for a little while she would just go limp. She has relaxed so much just the few hours she's been with us though. 

On the way back to the motel with her, she just crashed. She went from not hardly sitting still to just asleep in about 30 seconds!

She loves the bathtub, and is very quick and smart 😂 I gave her a bath and she threw a fit about getting out. She had her PJs on and was ready for bed, and the next thing I knew she was back in the bathtub with her PJs on and water running! She doesn't miss much and will copy everything she sees us doing.

Most of our pictures from today are on the camera, so I can't share them yet, but once we're home and I'm not blogging from a cell phone, I intend to post them! 

China--day 2.

This was an interesting day! We felt much more refreshed and ready to go exploring. We located McDonald's, KFC, and pizza hut.. So we feel pretty good about that :) Hangzhou is a popular tourist destination, and has a beautiful lake called west lake. We explored there for awhile and took a boat ride to an island where there was some little stores and things to look at. While there we had some interesting experiences... while walking up to the lake a young boy came up to us and said his name was Leo and he was 9 years old, and could he have a talk with us? We said sure and said we were from America and he said "yes I know". We really stick out :) we had some young people come up and want to take their picture with us... The most interesting of all though was when a group of men came up to us, 6-7 of them, and we talked to them for quite awhile. We were told we looked like a match made in heaven :) and when they found out we had 5 children at home and were there to adopt another one, they were very impressed. Then Mathan told them that I stayed home and took care of the children and that I also sewed my dresses...I was told I must be a domestic goddess😂 they said the Chinese girls should learn from me and that Mathan is a lucky man, lol. They were very kind, and extremely good for my ego :)

Mathan had an interesting experience with a squatty potty also...:)

 

China is a mixture of old and new, modern and ancient. It's a beautiful country.

China--day 1.

We made it to Shanghai in one piece, exhausted but so glad to be off that plane! Welcome to Shanghai!
                       
After 14 hrs on planes, a 1 hr long car ride from the airport to the train station, complete with carsickness, a 1 hr bullet train ride and another 40 min long ride to the hotel... We were ready to crash! Our guide got us checked in and then left... And we realized we were hungry... So we ventured out on our own, not feeling overly brave and managed to find a little to eat.

meat on a stick :)   

Then we went back to our motel and crashed for the night!

We can see the Finish line!

A few more weeks ( 5 to be exact) and we`ll be on our way to meet our girl! So many thoughts and emotions when I think about this. I think "peacefully terrified" sums up how I`m feeling! I feel so at peace with what we`re doing, and its good and its right. But at the same time, its unsettling, and I`m unsure how the transition will go...will she like us? How hard will she grieve? We want her to grieve, as terrible as that sounds, because it means that she was attached to her caregiver and will be more likely to bond to us, but the thought of her grieving and feeling so lost and unsettled makes my heart ache. Adoption is a beautiful hard mess. Of loss and new life, bound up in grief and joy. She has another mommy out there in China, somewhere, who I feel like loves her and is hoping she is loved and taken care of. She wasn`t abandoned until she was 2 months old, which tells me that someone tried to take care of her. For us to be given the gift of this daughter, someone else has suffered loss. And Zuri, above all, has suffered such a hard loss of her biological family.  Adoption is never plan A, it never should be plan A...but it can be a beautiful plan B.

We look back and can see a bit of the story God is writing, and we are so thankful for His provision and blessings in this story. It has been an humbling, growing experience, one from which we will never recover and never want to recover from. Our hearts have been changed, and broken, and when we see the faces of these innocent children living out their lives in an orphanage, I don`t know that I can ever wish to not know. I`m scared..scared to visit the orphanage in China, and see more faces. I`m scared at the knowledge I`ll carry around, and the faces I`ll see in my dreams and hurt for. Proverbs 24:12 says that "once our eyes are opened, we cannot pretend we don`t know what to do. God who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act." And the knowledge of knowing seems like a heavy burden at times, you want to just turn away and live your life like normal, and go on about your busyness...but you can`t. Its there, and it convicts and calls. It would definitely be easier and not cost as much money :) But God doesn`t call us to the "easy and convenient". And He doesn`t call the equipped, He equips the called, scripture bears this out many times! (think of Moses, Paul, Gideon, so many examples) Jesus doesn`t say to take up the heavy painful cross when its a good time for us, or our children are grown, or we have more money, or a bigger house...He asks us to take up the cross when He calls us to it!

So here we are, almost to the end of this journey, and ready to start the beginning of the next, transitioning Zuri into our family! We know this won`t be without its challenges and hard times, but we know that this little person is so worth it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AunwVtcTves&feature=youtu.be

She seems to be a bit of a firecracker :) She loves to eat, likes to play with dolls, loves to climb, and gets upset if her movement is restricted :) Typical 3 yr old!

We Are...Dossier To China!

Its getting real over here. Things are moving right along, faster than we thought it might, actually. Now the paperwork is over and out of the way (well, mostly..)  This envelope represents hours and sweat and tears...literally. When people talk about adoption paperwork....they aren`t kidding.  I am so GLAD to have this out of my possession and finally in China.

Now the fun preparations can start...like decorating her bedroom, buying cute new (to me) clothes for Zuri to wear...trying to get our remodel project done so we don`t have to worry about that later. If we don`t hit any major delays in China issuing the final approvals, we could be traveling as early as the last part of October. And thats really not that far away!

We`re trusting God that the last bit of funding will be in our hands, and there will be no delays with that. We have applied to several grants and are waiting to hear back now. From funds we had raised previously and our own personal funds, we went into this only lacking around $10000.00. Which seems like a large amount, but when compared to the whole cost of the adoption..well, it feels good to have had that much to put towards it.

So now...we get to sit back and wait for China to do their thing! I`ve waited 2 years to say those words.. "dossier to China" and it just feels really really good. But also scary. Things are going to change soon beyond what we can even know how to prepare for. Oh, we`ve done the training and the reading and have prepared as best we can..but until we actually step into this new reality and go get our girl in China...well, there doesn`t seem to be any more preparing to do, except to just DO it. And thats the scary part :) We are excited and peaceful about the changes coming (or else we wouldn`t be doing this) but the unknown is always just a little scary!

And for your viewing pleasure, because she`s just so cute....these are older pictures, but hoping to get updated pictures soon!

Happy Happy News!!

It is with much happiness and excitement that I get to resurrect this blog for its original use...ADOPTION :) The last year has been filled with much change and tears and new beginnings of life with Poppi....but still the conviction and the longing and the knowing that there is another child waiting was still strong. And wouldn`t you know....God works in quiet mysterious ways to accomplish His plan. Its funny to me, and you`d think I would`ve realized by now that Gods miracles are pretty much never the big grand "show" that I`m looking for. No...they seem to be much quieter and less noticed...at least for me anyways :) Suffice it to say, we are again in a position to move forward with our adoption. The little girl that we had hoped to adopt is no longer available, but thats okay, because she has a FAMILY and a MOMMY and DADDY coming for her! And thats all that matters.


We have, however, been matched with the cutest, sweetest, happiest little girl...She will be 3 in August...we have named her Zuri, and she is rocking  the 21st chromosome! In the videos we have of her, she seems very spirited and energetic, so we`ll probably have our hands full once she`s home :) We have completed our homestudy and are now waiting for USCIS approval, which means that the USA will approve us as adoptive parents and let us bring a child into the US. And as soon as thats done, we`ll be sending our dossier to China. As it looks right now, we could possible travel as early as October, but that depends on everything moving along with no big delays in processing and approvals. God has this, and the timing is in His hands, so we`ll just sit back and let Him work it out for us :) 

                                  Meet Zuri! This is an older picture, but below is a recent video of her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQvCJc1OlsY&feature=youtu.be

There has been many unknowns to us on this journey and it has had really hard moments and discouragements.  But also many  uplifting joy filled moments, of seeing what God has been doing behind the scenes and working this all out. I find myself waiting for the "bad" things to happen in this process, but there have just been a few very minor hiccups. I have to continually remind myself that this is Gods doing and His work, and He will work it all out. Its not all done and completed yet but there seems to be no reason that we will not be able to complete this adoption :) Thank you to everyone that has reached out and encouraged us, it really meant a lot!

Praying that God will bless your days!