1st Days to China

I am sorry I took so long to post anything about our trip. But it has been a L.O.N.G trip to get here, and I was in such a fog getting here that I just couldn't manage it. However, after a somewhat decent night's rest, a shower and another nap I am now able to tell our journey so far.

We left our house at 10 AM on the morning of Wednesday, May 22nd. After 3 flights to LA, Seoul Korea, and then finally Hong Kong, which included 13 hours of layovers, we had traveled 39 hours! Asher did really well on the flights. Although, during our "bedtime flight", he wasn't able to go to sleep until our 2AM and he then slept for only about 5 hours, quite restlessly and on my lap most of the time, so therefore I didn't really sleep. It is a painful thing at that moment. But I must say Korean Air is amazing. They flew beautifully, got us there an hour early, their service was awesome and very attentive and their seats were much more comfortable than other airlines for only economy. The bathrooms were even bigger and way more clean. If ever doing this flight in the future we will only fly them if we can. So great!
 
We were able to get a shuttle that works with our hotel from the airport, paying less than a taxi and much more comfortable. We got to our hotel about 2 PM on Friday, May 24th. We were wondering what happened to Thursday, May 23rd? It is neat experience to actually go forward in time! It is a very nice hotel, in one of the business parts of Hong Kong. Speaking of Hong Kong-WOW! what a beautiful and amazing city. Hong Kong, means, "fragrant Harbour". I am not sure how fragrant it is, as the smells aren't always so pleasant. If you were to take away the pollution, crime and Godlessness here you can see the beauty that God created and man built. It is the city with the MOST sky-rise buildings.. I could not properly describe it you would just have to see it. 

Our hotel room was not ready, they were packed! So we went to Subway. The restaurants around were very American style and very expensive as well. We ended payed $16 for 2- 12 inch "Subway" sandwiches, avoiding the fresh vegetables in order to not get sick. Jay also bought us one of the most delicious fruit I have had called Dragon Fruit. I will post a picture of it too.

Back to the hotel: Again rooms not ready, but they did find us some on the top floor (15th!) with a gorgeous view of the Harbour and City Skyline. I tried to take pictures from our window, that I will post, but not very clear unfortunately.

We received our luggage and then went to straight to take a 2 hour nap. Our plan was to walk around some more and eat dinner afterward. However, Jacob and Asher would not move 4 hours into the nap so Jay and talked, deciding we would all go back to sleep (we were actually very thankful for that as well.) Asher slept 12 hour straight and woke up at 3 AM. At that point he was up and playful and while I did encourage him to stay in bed for another hour, he did not go back to sleep until our next nap at 10 that morning, when we all slept again for 3 hours.

At 6 AM we all got up and headed to breakfast. It was a nice spread of American and Chinese choices. Following breakfast we desired to go shopping to the Famous Ladies Market. The concierge told us that none of the shopping places would be open until noon though. So that inspired us to walk around a bit and take an earlier nap. (mentioned above) After nap we rode the taxi to the Ladies Market. It had been raining with thunder for a few hours so we weren't sure we wanted to go, but the hotel concierge encouraged us letting us borrow umbrellas and saying "we get good deals because of the rain". 

What a shopping adventure that was and the rain had mostly stopped when we got there, so we were glad we chose to go. It was probably a mile or maybe even 2 of street vendors on both sides. I was able to find several things I was looking for with decent bargaining. The vendors are toughs sometimes, but I am pretty good at bargaining. I really based my amount on what I knew I would pay in the states and for the quality. Unfortunately, they do rip you off a lot of the times, and much of their stuff is fake, copy cats, or just bad quality, even if it is nice looking. If I wanted something and walked away in the end, they always called me back and accepted my price. Well, besides one, which was way over priced and the vendor insisted it was leather,which it was not. ( I worked at a leather store for 3 years in my youth.) She wanted 3 times what I would pay, so I offered her very low and since she would not take it, I left. That was okay, it probably would have broke anyway as it was cheaply made. 

We had some delicious frozen yogurt and a freshly made donut just for fun. Growing up Jay and I both loved Johnny's donuts, which I "think" I remember was owned by a Chinese family. So we tried one and it was so good. I do think Chinese are some of the best bakers, believe it or not!

We came back to our hotel and rested a bit before going to dinner. Jacob chose an Italian Pizzaria. We shared a New York Style pizza, which happened to be quite delicious. We payed way too much for it, especially for the little toppings which were on top (It was $30 USD for one large). I think our hotel is in a district where people are fine with paying those prices. The tourists coming in our hotel are obviously visiting Hong Kong from all over the world. We have seen many Indians, other Asians, Africans, Australians and Americans in our hotel lobby, which is always packed.

Our next plan tomorrow is to leave about 9 AM Sunday, May 26th, on a taxi to the train station. We are going to try to get on the 10:52 AM train to Guangzhou. I remember the train ride from Guangzhou to Hong Kong with Asher, and it was very beautiful, through the country side, comfortable and relaxing. Arriving in Guangzhou we will then find transportation to the Guangzhou airport, which I read is about 30 miles away or so. After getting there, our  2 hour flights leave to our separate provinces at approximately 5 and 7 PM. Our guides will greet us and help us with our luggage, taking us then to our hotels. Jay and Jacob's guide should be Michael in Chongqing and Eliza, Asher and myself have Celine in Zengzhou. The next morning or so we will be meeting our babies this whole journey began for!! I am so excited..I will post pictures and show you them as soon as I can. Jay will not have a computer, so it might take longer for me to post Isaiah. But I will show you Elliana Kate Jun as soon as I am able.

 This was our first flight to LA on Frontier. Flight was okay, a bit shaky on take off and landing, calling me for Dramamine, but we got there, obviously fine. Eliza and Jacob smiling, ready for their adventure.

Jay, Asher and me on other side of the row. 

Asher watching the flight crew on one of our layovers.

Here is one of our Korean Air planes, I think this was the one that took us from Korea to Hong Kong.

Toby, Jacob knew you would like to see what was in front of us on the back of the seats. It was a TV screen, fully equipped with interactive maps of the flight, the world, movies, video games and the news. It helped the travel day go a bit faster.

A small sampling of the huge Hong Kong harbor and all the boat freight that was being shipped out. It was spectacular. It had these huge crane type lifts that picked up the cargo and moved them around.

Not looking so great here, we hadn't slept or showered in almost 2 days, but we were waiting for our hotel rooms. We ate some Subway and delicious Dragon Fruit. A MUST try in China.

Dragon Fruit!!!

Our window views from hotel room of the harbor. Sorry the quality is not so great.

An ancient Chinese sail boat, called a "Junk".

The world famous "Ladies Market" and location of our shopping excursion.

After pizza, we walked along the peaceful harbor and attempted to see the buildings light up with a laser show, which they do every evening at 8. We saw a little bit, but it was cloudy and we weren't in the best location. It was neat what we did see.

Back to hotel and to bed.. Goodnight.

Last Post From the USA!

Well you all....I am up packing for the 3rd night in a row and still have LOTS to do and organize in my house before I feel like all my "ducks are in a row"...

I can't believe the time has finally come for us to get our sweet children. In the last hour it seems that most of our fees have been paid. I am grateful to the Lord, those He calls His Saints, and the hardest working husband in the Husband Business.

Here I am up way too late...It is almost 1 AM.. But I have so much still to do. I wanted to send one last update with a little brief of our itinerary for those of you following us.

Today, May 22nd  2013, (Day after Jay's birthday.. Happy Birthday Honey!) we will be getting on a plane toward the West Coast about 1 PM in the afternoon. We have LA to fly into with a, gulp, 9 hour layover!!! Please pray for that afternoon and evening.. Then we fly for 12 hours straight (NOT my favorite at all) into Seoul Korea (actually looking forward to seeing that airport and flying Korean Air for the first time) with another much shorter layover of  3 hours. Then we fly into Hong Kong and arrive at 11 AM on Friday May 24th. Yes, that was 2 days folks...Keep in mind that we are about 13 hours jumping into time..Now that is exciting, but nonetheless it will be a Long day, with a capital "L"...

We are staying in Hong Kong until Sunday afternoon. We hope to rest, shop and look around the city a bit. But mostly rest and do some shopping. We are hoping to get some shopping done before we get our new children, but we don't have a lot of luggage space as of now either, so not sure how that will play out.

On Sunday, we will be taking a 2 hour train ride into Guangzhou. I did that same train ride backwards when I brought Asher home and flew out of Hong Kong. It was beautiful and my first time on a "real" train, besides the ride at Disneyland. I loved it.. So we will take the train to GZ then get to the airport some how, (TAXI)..And our flights leave in the evening to our provinces. Jay and Jacob will be flying to Chongqing to receive and Eliza, Asher and I will be going to Zengzhou to receive Elliana. Our guides pick us up at the airport and take us to our hotels where we will promptly go to sleep, as the next day is "Gotcha Day". Which for your information, will be Sunday evening/night here, depending on the time of Gotcha and location in the US.

Monday is Gotcha Day, which typically happens first thing in the morning.  This meeting takes place as the Province's Civil Affairs Office and takes only about an hour or as long as needed for you to be ready to leave. We will sign temporary paperwork basically saying we will "Foster" the child for the next 24 hours and that is our time to make sure we approve of our children. The next day we will return and adopt the children. Jay will have a Power of Attorney from me and I will have one from him, stating we do desire to adopt and that the other spouse can sign on our behalf. That becomes our legal adoption day.

From then on we stay in the provincial city until Friday when we depart and head back to Guangzhou. All of us will be reunited at our 5 star hotel. I don't think I have ever stayed at a 5 star hotel!!! Yippee... We will remain there the rest of the time. June 6th is our Consulate Appointment and June 7th we will have a swearing ceremony at the US Consulate and our children's Visas will be issued. We get to fly out of GZ on Saturday June 8th and arrive back home 10:30 PM that same day. Remember how going to China we took 2 days? This time we only take 1, because we go back in time now. It is the never ending day. We definitely need your prayers for that day, as travel is hard anyway, but with 3 little ones, it just might feel impossible. And at this point we have seats caddy corner from each other instead of in one entire row, which will be hard.

Please pray for our family back home. Makenna, my amazing daughter, is staying here and acting as Mommy. She has 3 little pips to take care of Moriah, Toby and Lenea. She will do great.

I hope to write on here if possible, PM me if you want to be on the email loop, which I am sure will be easier to keep up on for me.

We are LEAVING IN 5 DAYS!!

Quick post to let you know we leave for China next Wednesday and return on June 8th.  
So excited..So busy...So much to do..

Makenna graduates this weekend from Ellerslie advanced program. We are so excited about that too and don't want the joy of that to be missed from the hustle and bustle of getting ready to go to China.

We should be meeting our children on Monday the 27th, which will actually take place on Sunday in the US.

I will let you know our next steps as I know.

Travel Update

On Monday, we did indeed get our official letters from China allowing us to Travel and adopt Elliana and Isaiah!! So, so happy! With that phone call from our agency also came the disappointing news that the US Consulate in China, where we need to make our Consulate Appointment with, was closed as of that day for an emergency.

It was later released that the US Consulate had received a mysterious envelope in the mail room with a white powdery substance in it. Thankfully, no one was hurt. But it has caused an emergency shut done with no let out of an end in sight. It has been 4 days so far. We really wanted to leave on May 23rd and we are still praying for a miracle to allow that to happen. But it seems that will not happen. I even wonder if we can go the week after.

There are about 100 families in China right now waiting for their children's Visas and cannot leave until they are given. Some of these kiddos have serious medical conditions that they need to get back to the US for. This might cause a back up of appointments as they will need to reschedule the families from this week and possibly next week. There are many "what ifs?" that pop into my head sometimes. But I do trust the Lord, that He has our precious little ones in His hands and has already worked this out.

In the mean time, your prayers are appreciated. I will let you know as soon as we know more.

Living History Field Trip

We had the opportunity to go with the children's school to a Living History Day for the Revolutionary War a couple weeks ago. It was hands-on, live actors, even some skits to present some history. We were only able to stay for about 3 hours because the girls had dance that afternoon. But here are some of the photos.

Learning about herbal remedies for sickness and health.

Jacob was disciplined for being distracted on the job.

Lenea washing clothes the old-fashioned way.

Moriah helping tie some rope..It took a couple tries to get it right.

Playing some traditional children's games. This was a relay race with a hoop.

Our friend Ren putting holes into a board.

Our friend Loe putting holes into a board.

Our little group standing with some Revolutionary War Soldiers.

Asher got to play some games too!

This was all the Ellerslie Prep Academy Students dressed up in traditional Colonial Costumes. So cute. Jacob is on the far left with Tobias right in front of him. Eliza is in the back on the far right and Moriah is in the next row, far right, wearing the red dress. 

We Wait For Travel Approval Another Weekend

Weekends are hard when you are so close to receiving some good news about adoption. Ironically, at the same time, it is sort of a relief not to think about it for a couple of days because it has to wait until Monday, so no need spending energy fretting about it anyway. Although, prayer is always important whatever day of the week or hour it is.

Adoption is a roller coaster of emotions. First, just the decision to pursue adoption can be weighty all alone in itself. Does God really want us to adopt again? How will we come up with the money, the thousands of dollars to adopt, when we live paycheck to paycheck like most Americans? Am I a good enough, loving and wise parent who should be adopting a child with a traumatic history and special physical needs? How will I manage another child and find time for the rest of our family? What if our adopted child resents the fact that we adopted him and even took him from his homeland? 

All of these questions came to my mind at some point in our adoption journeys, which began 2 1/2 years ago. God is ever so patient with me and walked me through each question with gentleness and truth. But that did not stop Satan from trying to trip me and discourage me, with his lies. Sometimes I believed the lies and had to have the Lord show me He was in control. I am so thankful that He is the Sovereign Lord and I can rebuke Satan in His name.

The other emotional decisions for adoptive parents are when you look at the faces of potential adoptable children and aren't sure if that is your child. All the children we looked at were precious and could have fit into our family if the Lord desired it. All of them were worthy to be loved in a family. But was it to be our family? Was that the child the Lord had set aside for us to raise, love and care for? Oh, how hard it was to make those decisions. When we did see Elliana's file at first I wasn't so sure. She looked very tiny, very delayed (even labeled that with no description) and with her leg issue I was concerned she may never walk and tried to imagine myself caring for a child like that. It scared me at first, but when we prayed faithfully for God's will, when I realized that my heart was being pulled toward her file and not the other file we had been looking at, the peace came. I began to only imagine her being our daughter, even if it meant brain damage and her never walking. It was going to be God's will for me and I had decided she was my daughter and I just needed to rescue her. 

The interesting thing was that in August 2012 when we made that decision, each piece of information we got about her from then on she was only growing stronger and getting bigger. She still looked and sounded smaller than the average child her age, but the Lord was already answering our prayers. And she CAN walk with help we are told, just not on her own. The doctors in the states who looked at her file were very hopeful they could help her to walk no matter what the problem was and they encouraged us to get her out of the orphanage, home in a family and give her a chance. We were fully committed to her and couldn't wait to become her parents. 

Her name Elliana means "God has answered" and He did do that in a faithful way for us to choose her. 

When we saw Isaiah's file, besides the fact that he was adorable, I wasn't so sure we could take on a child with severe heart conditions. And his file was very vague as to how China had treated it. The more we prayed about and the more we educated ourselves about it we also came to the same conclusion that he was our son and we were ONLY to step forward to become his parents. 

There were days, with trembling, that I asked the Lord to stop the adoption if it was not His will. Oh my heart hurt to ask Him that. I cried tears in my praying, feeling so inadequate, but so wanting to be the Mama to those precious babies. I want God's will for those children's lives. I want His will for my life and the other children He has already given me to parent. I know without a doubt that in my flesh I can NOT be a good mother. I am weak, lazy, impatient, distracted and selfish. But because Christ lives in me and I am standing in His promises and in His Grace I am the mother He wants me to be for all my children. 

This last week, I was so, so ready to get our Travel Approval from China saying they were ready for us to come get Elliana and Isaiah. Afterall, it had been the average time frame for waiting, it would work out for us to fly on May 23rd which fits our schedule perfectly. I have priced plane tickets. I have looked at hotels. I have begun packing. I am so busy in other things too and I know it will be a whirlwind of craziness. We were told on Wednesday that China had been processing our TA and should be here soon. Unfortunately, today when our agency received the approval for many other families, ours was not included. It was a very big let down. While I was still praising Jesus for His faithfulness and while I still have faith that it will come early next week and we can leave on the 23rd, I had an emotional feeling that this wait is never going to end. Some of the people who got TA this week have been waiting less than us. And I think at least one has been waiting longer than us. It seems that with China there is no reason for their time frame. It comes when it comes and you are at their mercy. Our wonderful agency was so kind in that they called us to let us know that they know we are anxious and waiting and they are going to check into it on Sunday. However, many times answers just don't come.

So this weekend, I breath a relief that I can just pray this weekend for the Lord's will and timing and not have to stress about the phone ringing or not ringing. But I will be begging Him to open the floodgates from China for our approval to come Monday or Tuesday. He is a God that understands our hearts and He is a God that listens to prayers. 

Please pray for this Travel Approval to come next week and that we CAN travel on May 23rd. I hope to post good news next week!!

Fundraiser Update

Sunday, May 5th we had our big Dinner, Silent Auction and Ultimate Jumper Fundraiser. I haven't had time to post about it before today because I was so busy preparing for it. We planned it all in 3 weeks. Whew...what a huge amount of work we had to do: planning, making flyers, inviting, asking businesses for donations (a BIG thank you to my handsome husband for doing that job!), finding help, buying food, making food and then actually having the event.

The Lord blessed us with a lot of support from our church. There was at least 15 people available just for the event to run the registration table, the auction, the kids games, the food and clean up. Then we had about 10 friends who helped with the food too! We ended up with a little over 100 guests. We had no idea how many friends would come. We made enough food for 200, so there was a lot left over but that was better than not having enough.

It began at 4:30 and our good friend Ron, who owns an Ultimate Jumper brought that for an added bonus of fun and fundraising.  We had games and candy for kids. Then we had a fabulous taco bar with beans, rice and cookies for dinner. We were blessed with almost 90 donations for the auction. Almost all of them sold. I think we have about 15 left which I am still trying to sell too. The end of the evening ended up with Jay sharing a few minutes about our adoption journey and our hearts desire to be all God's wants us to be as parents. We showed a few photos of our soon to be sweeties and then we prayed.

We were so blessed. Thank you Jesus, we give you all the glory. We ended up with $2,966 dollars and more to come as I sell the rest of the donations.

Here is a few photos. I wish I took more, but I was quite distracted and the night just flew by.

Two of my dear friends Lorisa and Lisa, and little Vivi