Day 4 - Adoption Day - October 14

It is now official. Kathryn Xuna is now my daughter!

Today was the day that we signed all of the papers to officially adopt Kate in the eyes of the Chinese government. We had to promise that we would always take care of her and never abandon or abuse her, and we did so gladly. Praise God! It is a good day!

The orphanage workers were there while we signed the documents, and they tried to get her to come to them, but Kate ran to Baba and held onto his neck tightly. The woman who she had clung to wasn't there, but we are still happy that she wanted Baba to help keep her safe. She has come a long way in just 24 hours.

Afterwards, we came back to the room and played for awhile before walking to a nearby mall. It was much too expensive for our tastes (and none of us were in the mood to shop), but it was good to get out. Plus, we discovered a Papa John's, which we returned to for dinner. On the way to the mall, we passed by many shops selling just about anything you could imagine (No live animals though. Sorry folks. It was pretty tame). We stopped in one and found some new shoes for Kate (hers were too small) for about US$4. Now that is more like it!

She fussed more at naptime today, maybe because she loves her brothers even more than yesterday. And when she woke up, she was fussier too. But Baba helps to calm her, and all was well. She still doesn't care for me, but we have moved up to toleration, as long as I keep my distance. I only got one really nasty look today (right after nap). Every time we ate, she wanted me to do my "Mmmm" noise again, and she would giggle and clap her hands. I will take it where I can get it.

She is voluntarily hugging Daddy and Ben now. She lets Will hug her too, and she asked Mimi to pick her up once. She did accept a French fry from me at lunch, and a necklace that I gave her to wear. So we are making progress. Slowly:)

She is fiesty, and has a wonderful sense of humor. At bed time, she wanted to sleep/play in the bed with her brothers. She was giggling up a storm, and had the rest of us in belly laughs. But mean old Daddy made her come to our room. She forgave him quickly and right now she is in her bed, drifting off to sleep while Daddy sits beside her with his hand on her.

Tomorrow we are off to Suzhou. I can't remember what we are supposed to see tomorrow, but I'm sure it will be lovely! Pray for us. We are so tired, but happy. I think I will relax more when we are back here in Nanjing and we get our laundry back, clean and pressed. Hopefully both of those things will happen on Friday. We hope to have internet access in Suzhou, but no promises.

Good morning everyone!

I don't have anything new to report this morning, other than we had an uneventful night. She slept until about 7 am and was glad to see her Baba. She still wants me to go away.

I just wanted to thank everyone who has commented! I appreciate your love and prayers and encouragement so much. Know that we love you all and think of you so often. This is the most exciting and scary thing I have ever done.

There were some things I meant to mention last night but forgot. For the details list - She is called NaNa, which we use but think we are saying it wrong. She loves electronics - computer, CD player, cameras, videos, etc. Watch out, Boopa. She likes pink. Today she picked out the pink shirt that Donna got her, and she picked the pink toothbrush over the orange one. I will post more as I discover/think of them. She is amazing.

Be sure to hop over to Tim's blog to see some video of her from last night.
Love to all!

What a day! (Day 3 in China) - October 13

I met my daughter today.

Wow. I never thought I would actually type that sentence. I'm not even sure where to begin, so I guess I should start at the beginning.

We went to breakfast here at the hotel. It is definitely not the Traders Hotel. I am thinking I will live on croissants and watermelon. I'm not sure what the boys will eat. Although they do have a decent omelet station, so maybe we will survive. We sat with a family from Michigan who is adopting a five year old little boy. We also saw the couple from last night and their daughter.

We left the hotel at 9:50 in order to get there by 10:30. When we arrived, we looked around really quick, but didn't see Kate. There were maybe five or six families already there with their children. I was overcome. I started crying, but made myself quit within seconds. I usually can't do this, so praise God. Some children were laughing, some crying, some sleeping. The five year old was there and screaming. Bless his heart. I am eager to see them tomorrow to see how the rest of the day went.

Anyway, I guess Kate was behind someone when we came in, because she was already there. We spotted her within a minute, and we just stood for a minute watching her. Our guide told us to go on and talk to her, so we knelt down. She shied away at first, but when I got out the graham crackers she was a bit more interested in us. She ate one after the other, and when she was bored with those I pulled out the banana puffs. She ate some of them, but was probably pretty full by then. The SWI nannies and director (I'm not sure which was which) were very kind and patient with her as she got used to us. She had a blue fuzzy backpack and a stuffed dog with her. Inside the backpack was the pink blankie we had sent, along with the two cameras, the Pooh bear, and the photo album of us. Tim grabbed the album and started showing it to her. We don't know if she had ever seen it before, because the bear and the blankie smelled like they had been in the cardboard box I sent them in for two months. They were also very clean. Anyway, as Tim flips through the album, Will narrates for them. He shows her Mama, Baba, and Ge Ge (big brothers). Yes, he was saying it in Mandarin. The guide had taught him how on the bus ride.

After a few minutes she was in Tim's lap. We don't remember how she got there, we just kind of noticed there she was, and she was holding on to Tim's thumb. At some point, she decided she liked the video camera feature that flips the screen around so that she could see herself. She played with that for a long time sitting in Tim's lap. When it was time for Tim to go sign the 24 hour agreement, she started crying, so I picked her up. She cried until I gave her back to Tim, and then she decided to stop. She cried when I picked her up for the official family photo, but when I gave her to Tim, she stopped. When we got onto the van, she was nervous, but waved goodbye to the nannies with apprehension on her face. We sat across from each other and played peek a boo. This finally got a laugh out of her. At that point I hadn't even had a smile, much less a laugh. That lasted until I said, "Where is Mama? There she is!" in Mandarin. Then she started bawling again. Oh, my poor baby misses her foster mama and is mad at me because she knows I am not her. Bless her. So I got the boys to come up to my seat, and I would cover them with the blanket, and then take it off. She laughed again.

By the time we got back to the hotel, she was fascinated by the boys. They danced around the room, did prat falls, made funny noises, and whatever else they could think of to make her laugh. It worked big time. She got down off of Tim's lap to play with them, and they had a ball. But anytime I said a word to her she would give me the "And why are you talking again?" glare. (Mom says to get used to it. I gave it to her for years. haha.) If she caught me looking at her, I got it again. She would be in a belly laugh, glance at me and stop dead.

At this point you are probably wondering how I was taking this. Well, my biggest fear was that she would reject both of us. It is perfectly normal to attach to one parent first, and I am perfectly ok with it. So I am so thankful she feels to comfortable with one of us. Really.

Anyway, for lunch she ate about a million Cheerios (hey, it's what she wanted), and drank water with a spoon. She did NOT like the formula we brought. In fact, they said she just drinks water, milk, and soup. When it was naptime, she cried when we changed her diaper, but then she calmed when Tim cuddled with her. I read her a book while the three of us lay down together. She kept her head turned away from me and the book, but she must have been looking at the book out of the corner of her eye, because when I moved it. she turned and looked at me.

At dinner tonight she ate everything we put in front of her except for red peppers. The green peppers were fine, but not red. She loved the noodles, rice, beef, and pork. Afterward, we went to Haagen-Dazs to celebrate our wonderful day. I sat all the way across the table so she could see me but not be afraid. She didn't like the Rasberry Sorbet she tried, but pointed to my chocolate ice cream. I pounced on that idea. I would give her a spoonful, make a funny face, and say, "Mmmmm!" She loved it, and gave me the belly laugh. Yay!

I thought maybe we had turned a corner, but as soon as we got back to the room she wanted me to go away again. Oh well. She is at least tolerating me now. She let me pat her hair earlier. But when she fell and bumped her head, Baba was the only one who could make it better. When it was time for bed, Tim put her in our bed, since that is where she napped. She layed there for awhile, but then she wanted some water with her spoon, and then she crawled into the crib herself and went to sleep. No crying.

Of course, I have left out tons of details. For example, she likes for Baba to sing to her and dance. She thinks it is funny when other people brush their teeth, but she won't let us near hers. She likes to compete with the boys to see who gets to push the elevator buttons. She was scared of the stroller at first, but after a demonstration by Will, she loves it. She likes Ben to read to her. When Ben was in timeout, she was worried about him and went to check on him. She is asleep right now and holding her spoon.

She is beautiful and smart and wonderful and stubborn and independent and so, so brave. She is completely amazing.

By the way, about half of these pics were taken by Ben and Will. Not bad, huh? Move over, Tara D.

A more Official version of day 2 (aka October 12)

Well, after a good night's sleep, I am feeling much more rested, but much more anxious than I was last night. My husband wrote a post describing exactly how I feel here. (The link to his blog page with daily updates is here.) We meet Kate in only a few hours, and my stomach is completely tied up in knots.


So, to distract myself, I am going to write about our adventures yesterday. We have been traveling with three other families. We spent the day on Saturday together, and they are a great group of people. There are two couples (Bob & Casey and Mike & Bette), and then a lady (Patty)traveling with her mom (Debbie) and daughter (Emily). Her hubby and other kids are at home anxiously awaiting their return. Patty and family had to catch an earlier flight out of Beijing, so they left us shortly after breakfast. The rest of us loaded up with one of our guides and headed to Tian An Men Square. It was just like in the pictures - completely packed with people, and bigger than you can imagine. Yesterday really gave me an idea of how huge China's population is. You can't move without bumping into someone.

Will rode on my back much of the day, and once again the kids were celebrities. People were patting their heads and following them around with video cameras. I have to say, the novelty has worn off and we are tired of it now. (Our new guide says it will be worse here in Nanjing. Oh goody.)

This is a picture of our group, minus Patty's family. The man next to Mimi is random. The longer we stood there, the more Chinese people kept jumping into our photo. It was just one of those moments were you just kind of laugh and roll with it, so we told our guide it was fine. Keep taking pictures!

Anyway, after the square we walked across the street to the Forbidden City, the royal home and place of government during the time of the emporers (pre-1912). We were just swallowed up in a sea of people. We developed a system where the middle person who could see the guide would hold up their hand so that the people in back could follow. You can see part of the sea of people in the photo below, although this really doesn't do it justice.

At one point we tried to get near the main palace (in photo above) but it was impossible. There was a huge mob of people pushing and shoving to get a glimpse of the inside. So we pushed and shoved to get out of there. Below is a photo of me and Will on the bridge going into one of the palace courtyards. I remember seeing this bridge in a textbook photo as a child, and I had always wanted to see it in person. That was probably the highlight of my trip to the Forbidden City.

Tim, in his blog, did a good job of describing the political contrast of Tian An Men Square and the Forbidden City. But I also think that part of the popularity of the Forbidden City lies in the fact that this system of royal privilege and lavishness has been abolished and the current government doesn't use this as its model. I don't think I am explaining that well. It is hard to put it into words here, but it was all very interesting. Maybe I will try when we get home. What am I saying? I am going to have a new daughter when I get home!!

After the city, we were taken to the airport. We got through security fine, found a place to eat (thank you, Flavor Tang), and found our gate. When we boarded the plane, it was very hot and people were sweating accordingly. You get the picture...ummm...smell. Thankfully, Will and I fell asleep, and we landed shortly. We had gate checked the stroller, and normally they meet you at the gate with it when you get off the plane, but it wasn't there. So we went to baggage claim and it wasn't there either. We waited and waited. Finally, Tim starts to ask people where it should be. They all point to the baggage carousel. I went back to the gate thinking maybe it was delivered later. I talked to three different people - in Mandarin, no less! Side note- I have been listening to Mandarin CDs trying to learn some basic phrases. They finally came in handy! So the extent of my Mandarin is "Excuse me, do you speak English?" and "Where is...? It is over there. It is not over there. It is here." Etc. I can also say baby. So I kept saying "baby" and pantomiming me pushing a stroller. Everyone thought I was nuts, I am sure. So one lady looks like she knows what she is doing, although the only English word she knew was "bag", so I followed her. She took me back to baggage claim and pointed at the carousel again. At this point I was so frustrated. I kept saying in Mandarin, "It is not there." (Later our guide tells me that I was speaking Beijing Mandarin which is different from Nanjing Mandarin. Great.) We were on a different level from baggage claim, standing above the carousel. Finally I spotted Tim, and he is pushing Will in the stroller. I had to laugh. I thanked the lady (in Mandarin), and joined my group. Apparently, it was labelled oversized baggage and was delivered in a different spot. It had been sitting there the whole time. (BTW, please don't think I am bragging because I learned a bit of Mandarin. I am trying to show how bad I am at it!)

We find our guide (who calls herself Kate) and board the bus. Kate is 23 and has been a guide for awhile, but this is her first adoptive family. She is very sweet. And I am sure it will be fine (in other words, pray for us.)

She brought us to the Mandarin Garden Hotel. This is the kind of place where people use the lobby to take wedding photos. They were doing that when we arrived. We met a nice man from Virginia who is here for his fourth adoption, and he gave us his room number in case we need anything. Thanks, Brandon and Nicole!

Anyway, our room is a massive suite. It enters into a kitchen/dining/living area, where we have a microwave (yay!) and a fridge that sort of works. There are two separate bedrooms and two separate bathrooms. It is perfect for our family. Of course, the beds are hard as rocks and I haven't tried the breakfast yet, but I am happy. And scared out of my mind. Have I mentioned we meet Kate in less than 3 hours?

Tim and I slept a full eight hours, but the boys woke up at 3:40 am (poor Mom!). I have a feeling this may be a day of meltdowns for more people than Kate. Now, we are off to breakfast and then we meet the guide. Actually I am not sure I can eat breakfast, but I guess I need to try. I have no idea when I will get to post again, but I will try. Love to all.

Totally exhausted after day 2...

But I wanted to post real quick anyway. Today we went to the Forbidden City and Tian An Men Square. Lots of walking. I will write more about it later, but for now, I just wanted to let you know that we are scheduled to meet Kate at 10:30 in the morning. For those of you trying to keep up, that will be 10:30 pm on Sunday at home. Pray for us all!!

We made it to Nanjing safely, and have a huge suite with two bedrooms. What a blessing! I will try to post again in the morning before we go to the Civil Affairs Office, but no promises.

Our first full day in China! - October 11

Hello from China! Yesterday may have been fairly uneventful, but today we remedied that. After breakfast, our guide and driver took us to the Olympic Park to see the Bird's Nest, the Cube, and the building that looks like a giant flame (don't know what that one is called). It was really cool to get to see the locations that we watched on tv in August.

Then, we loaded up and headed to the Great Wall. All of the stories that people have told me are totally true. The steps are completely uneven. One step would be two inches tall, and the next one would be 20 inches tall - very hard to climb. But it is also as amazing and wonderful as I had heard.

The boys were probably more excited about this than anything else on the trip (except their sister of course). When we started to climb, they were ready to roll. So we set off climbing the most difficult and steep part of the wall. Mimi made it about 1/3 of the way up, which is quite impressive. Amy made it up about 2/3 of the way. But Tim, Ben, and Will went all the way! The kids just kept going and going and going. It was unbelievable.

The boys at the top of the Great Wall

To give you an idea of how high they climbed, this picture was taken about 1/3 of the way up, and they got to the farthest tower you can see in the photo. There was actually one more section they could have climbed to get higher, but they ran out of time. You see, it turns out that my children are celebrities here in China. Tim said that every few steps, Chinese people were stopping him to ask him if they could take pictures of my kids. And this went on ALL day! The Chinese paparazzi was everywhere! According to our guide, Chinese people think that little American kids are cute (funny, considering that I think Chinese babies are adorable). So at least two dozen Chinese people now have pictures of themselves with my children. It was pretty funny.

Anyway, after the wall, we went to a Cloisonne factory, which is a place where they make bronze items like vases and they create these intricate and colorful decorations on them. They were beautiful. Then we ate lunch at the factory - which was tasty. The bean paste spring rolls were delicious. Seriously.

Finally, we went to the Summer Palace, which was a massive palace and garden, including man-made lake, where the empress liked to spend her summers. We didn't go into any of the buildings, but the grounds were gorgeous. Then, we took a boat ride across the lake, where more people wanted photos of my children.

Now, we are completely exhausted. Will passed out before we ever got to the room. Ben has danced all over the streets of Beijing, and is hopefully asleep by now. Funny Will story of the day - on the way down the wall, Will says, "I knew I would have a great life." I think he meant he knew it would be a great day, but it was so sweet and funny. Ben also said that he was glad to be a part of our "team" climbing the wall. Have I mentioned I have awesome sons?

Tomorrow we fly out to Nanjing. Continue to pray for travel mercies, and that we don't get sick. We accidentally had ice in our Cokes tonight. Hopefully it will be ok, but we will know by morning, won't we? Love to all.

We're Here!!!

We are getting ready to go tour the Great Wall of China, but I wanted to send out a quick note that we are here safe and sound. Our flight was uneventful, and the boys did wonderfully. Right now they are bouncing around the room because they are so excited to be here. We are staying at the Beijing Traders Hotel, which is very nice and comfy. We all slept like rocks last night. This morning we at the hotel's breakfast buffet, which was amazing. Our favorite was the fried rolls that we dipped in syrup. A close second was the scrambled eggs that had all sorts of things stuffed into them. Delicious. Really. Love to all. I will try to post more later today (tomorrow your time)!