Gotcha Day!!!

Sunday Morning:We woke up early at our hotel in Beijing, all of us feeling the excitement that today was THE day! It really felt rather unreal! We packed up our room, ate breakfast at the buffet , then met our group & guide in the lobby at 7:30. We rode a bus to a small local airport. Ran into a glitch with Steve's passport that required additional time of waiting as they fixed the problem. We were so glad we had come early. Going through customs, most of us endured a thorough pat down. Awkward! 

Once on the plane we had a 2 hr flight to Xian.  We were met by our new guide, Sherrie. Boarded another bus and during the 1 hr drive to our hotel she went over the instructions for the rest of the day,and the rest of the wk.

Our hotel is right smack in the middle of  a huge city. We are on the 23rd floor and have a great view of the city below. Although, so far there has been a constant haze, which dosent allow you to see very far. We have 2 hotel rooms. They really are amazing and have wonderful bathrooms.(important to me!) Each room has 2 twin beds, which in my opinion seem even smaller than our twin beds. We also have an extra cot in the one room for Javonn.

We only had a little more than half an hour to unload our luggage before we needed to rush back into the bus to head to the Civil Affairs building to meet our children. Oh my! It really was stressful and at the moment it felt anything but calm and serene! We were all hot n sweaty, tired, nervous and I was esp worried that the children, or mainly Kianna would create chaos in an already chaotic room of various families all meeting their child at once! I knew she was tired, clingy and fragile. We Prayed hard and trusted again that God's peace would prevail!

Nerves running high we enter the building and go to the 20th floor. As soon as we walked in the door, there he was!! All the kids had already arrived! 

Our first glimpse....our guide in the front pulling files, the orphanage director and nanny holding Shao Bo. As soon as the guide told them we were his parents the nanny came to us. Poor Shao Bo's eyes widened in terror, and the closer they came the more he started crying and holding his hand our waving No! NO!
It was heart breaking!!
For a few seconds my mind just froze. All I could think was, "What am I supposed to do!! There is NO Way I could force myself to pull him  away from the only people he has ever known!!"
 

Then suddenly I remembered the stash of options we brought along for exactly a time as this! I knelt down on the floor and opened the back pack. I pulled out cheerios and Steve got the stickers. That did it! He reached for them right away and as he did I gently pulled him onto my lap. The nanny was jabbering away and repeatedly kept saying "Shao Bo Ma-Ma, Bah- Bah (chinese for daddy. pronounced like pappa, except w a B) !!!" 

And he never cried again for his nanny. He seemed to know he could trust us! The children gathered around, and he happily accepted every snack that was offered to him. He preferred the food above any toy!

We had some legal papers to sign that gave us temporary custody of him for the next 24 hrs. His nanny & director quietly slipped out and we were on our own! 

Our family of 6! As soon as the Chinese tell Shao Bo to pose he pops out the 2 fingers. All the Chinese kids do that!

My "twin" toddlers!!

We are SO amazed at our new treasure! He is so smart and such a live wire! He is small but mighty! Steve thinks he will be the liveliest of our crew! He's been giggling, running and bouncing all over the place. He seems to be adapting so well, better than I could ever have hoped for. He loves both Steve & I and cant seem to get enough of us holding him.

He is fully potty trained. The orphanage took him every hour!!! SO it seems like he is forever telling us he needs to go!

He jabbers away in Chinese but easily repeats ANY word in english we ask him to. Seriously, he just amazed us how smart he is, and how fast he seems to understand almost anything we say!

His first night wasnt easy... I'll tell you more about that later. For now, Steve & I need ot run off to do more paper work.

Tired but blessed!!

Update!

Greetings from my hotel room in Beijing. I should be sound asleep....but because of that terrible jet lag I'm wide awake at the moment so after swallowing a few sleep aid pills I figured I may as well write until they take effect Besides, Kianna is having the same problem, the dear thing fell asleep around 1:30 in the afternoon while we were out touring. At first I assumed she was just having her normal afternoon nap but after a few hours it became apparent it was not just a nap, it was her night time! We could not wake her up! She was like a floppy rag doll who could be passed from person to person, jostled in the vehicles and nothing would wake her! We were like "Oh no~" we knew the problem this would likely cause when our night time came......

Our hopes to skip out on jet lag by taking melatonin regularly on the way over, as suggested by Daniel Haley, most certainly did not work, because today was pretty tough. WE had hoped to sleep in till 8:30, but instead were all wide awake by 5:30. The breakfast buffet opens at 6 so we got dressed/ showered and were out their by 7. We all oohed and aah-ed over the wide variety of options. It was a good mix of chinese and american food. Definitely enough that we can get satisfied on. It's all set up attractively and the cooks wear the great big tall white hats. They don't have silver ware on the tables unless you request some. Its all chopsticks. Napkins is another thing they don't really use. Not sure if they never get messy eating or if they just wipe on themselves. But this mommy who is very aware of making as little laundry as possible and hoping each child can stay in the same outfit for at least the entire day sure misses napkins!!

After breakfast we roamed around and explored some of what the hotel has to offer. It has some fancy expensive looking clothing, toy and jewelry shops. The main thing that caught our attention was a Starbucks! It was set up just like the American ones. Its amazing how soothing it is to see something familiar when all the sights, sennces and language around you are foreign. We didn't have any money on us at the moment so we are still waiting to indulge on a cup of coffee.

We were to meet our guide and the rest of our group in the lobby at ten. But before that I felt like I could crash in bed and go to sleep. It was like that all day for Steve & I. It came in waves. Energy for a couple hours then all of a sudden we would be hit with such tiredness it really took effort to be "with it." We commented various times how grateful/wise it is not to have gotcha day on that  first day when our body is so disoriented. I told Steve it sure takes faith today to believe that I wont feel hazy and  groggy this entire trip! You mean theres a possibility we could ever get a good night of sleep and feel rested! Sure hope so!

There were only 2 other families in the lobby. Another one is arriving late tonight, and the another family skipped the Beijing part and went straight to their childs province. We will meet them later. The 2 families we met are both from MD and we are all adopting boys, and all from the same province! The one couple has their 12 yr old daughter along. The other couple has 5 older children, all at home. We enjoyed getting thawed out and got more relaxed with each other as the day progressed because we road around in a bus and toured as a group. On the agenda for today (friday) was visiting the great Wall of China. We had an hours drive there, which was nice because we got to see alot more of the city and surrounding area. We saw a mix of highly advanced looking architecture in the huge buildings and sky rise apartments along with a lot of poor looking areas. It was an amazing drive and really kind of hard to take it all in! Such a very different culture! It felt so good to get a glimpse of our sons culture. It occurred to me that even though this IS his heritage he will likely grow up feeling as much a foreigner to it as we do. Hopefully we can take enough of pictures for him to enjoy hearing about it as he grows up.

The Great Wall is truly an AMAZING sight!! So worth going to!! It's just incredible to try to take it all in. You've seen the photos many times in books etc, but suddenly you want to pinch yourself because its hard to believe you are standing there on it in real life! Pictures just dont do justice ! The mountains are so huge and jagged. Derek & Karilee thoroughly enjoyed climbing the wall. They of course would be way ahead of us, then look back and say "come on Mom & Dad! Whats taking so long!" Yeah right! We were out of breath and taking many rest stops, plus carrying Kianna and a back pack. In my jet lag state I completly forgot to bring along the Ergo baby carrier to the wall even though I had it packed in our suitcase for specifically a time as this! We also left our sun glasses at the hotel because it looked so hazy and overcast when we left we didn't think we would need them, but it was nice and fairly clear on the mountain and we regretted not bringing them. We climbed to the first big tower, then decided that was enough for our family. The steps were steep and you really needed to watch your footing because of uneven and mis shaped steps. We enjoyed browsing the little shops that were set up at the bottom. D & K each picked out a souvenir and we enjoyed watching nationals do hand paintings with their thumbs and fingers creating amazing paintings of the wall.  It was on the way back down that Kianna fell asleep, maybe around 2 pm and she slept the rest of the afternoon, evening and when we got back to our hotel at 6:30 pm I laid her in bed and she kept right on sleeping until 11 pm! Then she was ready to be wide awake, was hungry and wanted to play. All the rest of us were zombies! I felt sorry for her. I kept the lights real dim, let her eat a granola bar, dry cheerios and water. Then we gave her some melationin to help her relax and she went back to sleep again. She was restless the rest of the night but def allowed us ot get more sleep. We were all awake by 4 am and took melatonin to make us go back to sleep, which we did for a few more hours. 

Anyway, back to the afternoon yesterday, after we were done at the Great wall, our bus load went to a Tea House, the most famous one here in Beijing. Tea is a huge thing here, like coffee is in America. We all sat around a table while a girl told us about their different famous teas like Jasmine, OOlong, fruit tea etc. and what they use them for. Certain teas are good for digestion, some for calming etc. They have a special way they make it...and served us samples of each in tiny cups that held probably 2-3 tablespoons! It was very interesting! Carmen, I thought of you, because it was just like you had described it. 

Oh, another thing, we had been warned the children's blong hair would be an attraction. Oh my goodness! That is no understatement! Going up the great wall it almost got ridiculous the people that stopped and wanted a picture with her. Touching her and rubbing her cheeks. Also many posing with Karilee. Someone said blond hair and blue eyes to them means good luck so they like to touch/ take pictures. At the restraunts the waitress will just scoop Kianna up and attract a flock around them and want to pass her around. I'm surprised how well she has tolerated it. I asked Karilee what it feels like to be a celebrity!:)

After the tea house tour we were more tired than ever! Everyone in our group was looking pretty bushed! All we wanted was to crash in bed, but oh no, we were headed to another big chinese restaurant for a typical chinese meal where we sit at a large round table that has a lazy susan in the middle that they load with food and you turn it around and dish out whatever you want. Kianna is still sleeping in my arms and Derek laid his head on the table as soon as we sat down and was completely out for the entire meal. It was such a relief to get back to the hotel. My head was hurting and I crashed in bed and went to sleep shortly after.

Saturday morning: We just returned from the breakfast buffet which we all enjoyed very much. Steve is off to exchange some money and get our first coffee. we need to meet in the lobby in half an hour to leave with the group for the days sight seeing. We feel much better and oriented today. Kianna is crabby though. We are going to The forbidden City, and I forget the name of the other place. I think it will be a full day.

Sunday morning we leave the hotel at 7 am to go to the airport. Our flight leaves at ten, I believe. Tomorrow is THE day!!! We are ready for it!

Love & Blessings from China! Esther

PS. Reuben, Derek was so tickled ot find one of those little laser lights from a peddlar off the street that came running up to our bus with his wares. It's not quite as fancy as yours but he's tickled pink!

En-route to China

 I've been waiting for a chance to come on here and give an update. Whew! The last week has been BUSY and hectic!! But we survived it and  guess what?!! We are currently up in the air on our first flight heading to China!! We left our little city airport in Watertown about 20 minutes ago. So nice having an airport half an hour from home!
We woke up this morning feeling all excited thta this was THE day!!! Everyone had big smiles on their faces as we did final packing, and cleaned the house. We're gonna miss our house and cozy beds. I'm already looking forward to coming home :) 
Grandma Martin made lunch for us and then we had a few stops to make in town. We were so glad Grandpa Glick's could come out to the airport and see us off. They brought yummy Pappa Johns Pizza for us to eat. I think Kianna had a bit too much pop...she is bouncing off the walls... I mean seat, here beside me!
It was priceless watching Karilee & Derek's faces as the plane took off.  This is their first flights that they are old enough to remember. Steve & I are SO incredibly grateful to God for providing for the whole family to come along. The last huge life changing event our family went through (Jadrians death) it included so much seperation as a family, and we are so thrilled that we can enter into this special life event as a family, all together. And even though Jadrian is not with us in person, we feel his spirit with us. His life played such a signifigant role in this journey coming to pass. We even tell each other we feel closer to Jadrian being up high in these fluffy clouds!!
Grateful for a beautiful day to fly! We have a 1 1/2 hr flight to Chicago. There we will meet up with Auntie Ruth who is so graciously joining us on this trip to help with child care. We only have 45 minutes in Chicago until we board American Airlines 777 to Bejiing, China! That will be a 13 hr flight. We leave at 7:15 pm and fly all night and arrive in Bejiing at 9:45 pm and get ready to start our second night in a row. There is a 12 hr time change! Our bodies will be going through quite the adjustments!
After we go throw customs in Bejiing we will be met by our guide who will be holding our agency name sign. I'm sure he will be a great sight to weary bodies in a strange land. He will escort us to our hotel where we will hopefully get a GOOD night of sleep :)  
Friday & Saturday will be spent touring in Bejiing. This time is intentionaly planned to give our bodies a little time to acclimate to the new time zone and hopefully get over jet lag a little before we go to meet our treasure. On Sunday morning we fly to Shaanxi, Javonn's province, for Gotcha day!

Of packing and praise..

The children's count down chart on the wall boldly declares that it's 9 more days till we step on that plane!! We are down to single digit numbers! This week loosk very full so no doubt the time to depart will come before we know it!

Derek finished his math book today and we will finish the remaining remnants of school this week. Yay for ending the school term early! One of the perks of home schooling was being able to stick to school steadily and not need to have weeks off for snow days! We have a gym day, 2 dentist appointments and a weekend of babysitting cousins. I also intend to get the last few items from our shopping list and work at packing....

Two specific books I cant wait to read many times over to Javonn. Beautiful childrens books on adoption. Thank-You Ellen & Carmen!

Packing for 6 people feels like a big job to me, but I'm sure it will all come together just fine. I'm determined to not stress about it. If we forget something, more than likely we can buy it there! Our in country flights only allow 44 pounds per checked in item so I'm planning to have that be our weight limit even though our flights to China allow 50 pounds.

The lovely cake from Aunt Carmen~~Javonn has no idea how many uncles and aunties are waiting to love on him!


Sunday morning both Steve & I came down with a nasty head cold that got progressively worse.... He was able to go to work today and I managed  to limp around with getting Monday duties done with very frequent visits to the couch, and ever reaching for the tissue box. Even though my eyes are swollen and it looks like I've been crying all day, my heart feels quite the opposite. I feel SO AWARE of God's presence today! And that, is SO SO precious!  Despite being sick at such an inconvenient time, I am not afraid, because I know God is with us and everything is in control. And most likely the sickness, is just another attack the devil is trying to throw at us.

I PRAISE and BLESS you , Lord, for you are so faithful to your promise!! You surround us today with your peace. There is no fear because you are with us!
I feel SO AWARE of the fact that our family is just about to step in to a new phase that will change our lives in so many ways. So aware that it will be a mixture of HARD and beautiful. But more than anything, right now I *FEEL* the presence of Jesus so clearly, that even sickness and packing chaos cant take away that peace.  He reminds us, this trip is ALL about him.
He planned it.
He's orchestrating every detail.
All we do is take His hand and follow.

There is NOTHING so sweet, so peaceful, so securing, as following the will of our Shepherd.

Surprise Pictures!

 I want to share about the amazing blessing God gave us this week! Our agency has a Facebook group for families that are part of the China Waiting Children Program. The other day I was shocked to see a post from a lady that mentioned that she had just returned from spending time in a specific orphanage and wondered if any parents out there might have a child there, as her team was able to take photos and some video and very likely they would have some of our child! The orphanage she mentioned was THE ONE our treasure is at!!

It made my heart beat faster...At first I tried not to get my hopes up. It seemed to much to hope for that out of hundreds of children, someone would have spent time with MY child!

Javon Tyler Shao Bo~~You are So Loved!

Through FB, emails and then finally a phone call..I was able to talk to a sweet dear lady who had just returned on Monday from spending time playing, holding and loving on my son and the many other children. She had been part of a mission team that went over to minister in the orphanages.

I was so wowed that God would give me this gift! Photo's, video and being able to ask specific question to someone who was just with him. It gives us a much better idea of how to prepare for him, what to take a long for him etc. Not to mention how special it is hearing about his personality. 

It sounds like 2T clothing will fit him. He is small and petite.

He is even fully potty trained!! At least, he is squatty potty trained!  I'm sure there will be some adjustments in adapting to our "big scary toilets!"

She said ShaoBo is such a happy child and will be such a joy to our family! He speaks fluently in mandarin (their Chinese dialect) She said he was like a little parrot and kept repeating English words that they said. Sounds like he will catch on fast to his new language!

He is healthy, and didn't appear to be developmentally delayed. He loves to laugh and dance and sing!

A walk to the park~~ Javonn is standing on the far left.

We were thrilled to hear that he is in a very nice orphanage. The directors and nannies love the children deeply and take good care of them. The facility is clean and orderly. 

This is Javonn's current home. His room is down the hall, the last door on the left.

Javonn on the right, with his sweet play mates. Everyone of them deserving/ needing a loving family!

My friend shared a cute story about the sticker pictures. While playing with Shao Bo she put a sticker on his nose. His eyes lit up like he was just given an amazing gift. Probably never played with stickers before. He kept pointing to different parts of his body and saying "stick-a" until after awhile he had like 40 stickers all over him. He loved every minute of it and cried big crocodile tears when some bigger kids started taking them off.

We have a little video clip where we can hear him say "Stick-a" :) It is so darling!! I havent been able to figure out how to link it on here.

Thank you Jesus! You knew that this mommy here in New York needed to be put in contact with a mommy from Louisiana . God knew I had secretly hoped for additional information, and I was given even more than I expected. I am indebted to my friend, whose heart is completely broken for the cause of the orphans , who ministered so much life and love to my little boy, so very far away, then came home and knew that his mommy to be needed to know and hear what her little boy really was like. She knew that only looking at a picture or two really dosent give you any idea of the real person they are!

We are more anxious than ever to go meet our son & brother! 

On Saturday we went shopping and got a bunch of things marked off our packing list. I know the time will fly by fast! 

We are so grateful we have these 3 weeks to prepare our hearts emotionally for the big trip and life changing event coming up. It feels so right to get everything in order here on this end, so when we leave we can be "all there" and focus entirely on whats best to help Javonn through the transitioning time.

How grateful we are that God so tenderly walks us through this journey! It is such a comfort to feel His presence. 

Travel Approval!

Wow! A lot has been happening in the last 16 hours! Yesterday afternoon we got the BIG call we were waiting for that out Travel Approval (TA) had arrived at our agency.

Steve was the lucky one to answer the call, I was home vacuuming carpet and missed the call. So they called Steve at work. I'm glad it worked out that way, so he could have the fun of getting one of the special BIG calls since I received all the others, the referral  and the referral acceptance.We were amazed because this was again sooner than the estimated dates we had been given.

The adrenaline was high as I shared the call with the kids. Lots of shrieking and cheering! Derek runs to the kettle cupboard to get two kettle lids to clang together for drums....until mommy intervened, that is. My ears were already almost ringing!!

We were shocked to discover that we had the option of leaving NEXT WEEK for Gotcha day!! As in 6 days away!! What a roller coaster we were on for awhile thinking should we....shouldnt we....let's go for it.....no lets wait..... it seemed like it kept changing  by the hour! There was some pro's and con's to either travel date but we came to a conclusion we all feel peace about......

We picked the later date, April 9 for our departure day. 26 days.......

So many emotions going on! I have some wonderful news to share about a VERY special gift from God, but it will be another post. Right now this mommy is needed to bring peace back to her house hold that has been on the chaotic side today!

Moving forward!

Yes, things are really moving forward!! Maybe it's because for so long it felt like we were moving at a snails pace that now things feel like they are coming together one right after the other! We'll take it!

Our I800 (immigrations) is approved and our DS260 is completed. We have officially completed ALL the Hague paperwork on our end of the process.

The next step will take place in China between the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou and the China Center for Childrens Welfare & Adoptions (CCCWA) in Beijing.

Once our paperwork is submitted  to the consulate (the DS260 we just sent off), it will take the consulate 10 business days to issue our Article 5 (approval). Once the Article 5 is submitted to the CCCWA, it takes about 2-4 wks for the travel Approval to be issued. And then we will travel 2-4 wks after that.

At the EARLIEST we could be traveling the last week of March!! But more likely would be the middle of April. We will be leaving the US on one of the Wednesdays in April! It's feeling so close! The children & I want to make a count down!!!

 Precious Treasure! It make sour hearts beat fast to think that in 2 month you could be home with us!! We pray for you every day. You feel so close.....yet so far away!!

It is such a comfort and reassurance to know that Jesus will hold YOU, and US, as we walk this new pathway. Sometimes we feel afraid....how will this all work out? DO we really have what it takes to bring healing and restoration to a dear child's heart. Will we have enough patience...long suffering.....

BUT GOD!!!.......Yes, He always reminds us that it's not about US. It's ALL about HIM. AH, thank you Jesus. We are your hands and your feet. Your willing servants. But it is YOUR LIFE, YOUR LOVE that will heal and restore.
~~~~So honored to be HIS Love "with skin on"~~~~~~~