Fun with Statues

While we were off doing official stuff, Mom and Dad took the kids around the island to take pictures of the various statues. Here is their fun:

It's official!

Well, today's paperwork finalized the adoption--he is ours now. The people handling the paperwork asked us all kinds of questions including what his Chinese name is. We each pronounced it for them. One lady commented that my Mandarin was very good. I laughed, thanked her, then told her it didn't really matter since he only understood Cantonese. I asked how to say his name in Cantonese, and she said some amazing string of syllables. She assured me it was very hard. That answers why he doesn't answer when we call him ZuBin. We are just going with Elijah since we do not know his Cantonese name.

Here's something amazing: he has been in the same diaper since this morning! He seemed to indicate something to me, then he pooped in his diaper. When we returned from the Guangzhou Civil Affairs Office, we placed him on the toilet, which he used once he calmed down! He has gone 4 more times after that! We are truly amazed. We'll see how he does tonight. Maybe we won't need that case of diapers after all.

He is already starting to repeat some words in English. He is interacting more and starting to play. He can "Give 5." He very much still prefers Greg. The kids are dying to play with him more, but he is still very clingy and not feeling safe enought to get down very often.

We have looked at him a little more and maybe the meatus is higher than we thought. Just thought we'd toss that out there, as we really have very little clue what we are talking about.

It has been a very long, stressful day with a fussy, scared toddler and all kinds of official appointments. Tomorrow we will pick up his notary book that documents the adoption, then we go to apply for his passport. It takes 5 business days to receive the passport, then we will go to the US Consulate to apply for his visa and get sworn in for something, I'm not sure what. Then we can come home. Somewhere in there we have a medical exam. Everything I have heard about the medical exam is that it is fast and basically gives you a height and weight.

I am going to go back now and add in some photos. More tomorrow.

An Aerobic Sleeper

The first night is over (for me at any rate, everyone else is still sleeping, including Elijah.) It went very well. He laid on the bed between us and went to sleep around 9 pm without a fuss. He likes to have his feet massaged, so I took advantage of that and rubbed some cocoa butter lotion in to start to soften them up while I relaxed him. It was so cute, because if we stopped rubbing, he would move his foot back into our hands so that we would start again.

He rolls all over while he is sleeping! This is his first night outside of the confines of a crib, so he was really testing his freedom. When he encounters resistence (like a pillow) he just lifts a leg and works to get over it. While it is cute while we are awake, it is a little tougher to sleep through. He also rotates. His head was up with ours at times. At others, we were an H. He never woke up, though. The thumb goes in and out of his mouth all night. We have never had a thumb sucker before, so this should be interesting.

We gave him a bath last night so we could start to wash some of the grunge off of him. He was unimpressed. He refused to sit down and screamed the whole time. I at least got the dirt out of some of his sores and put some antibiotic ointment on them before we put on him jammies. We did not even attempt to brush his teeth. One thing at a time. Maybe today we'll try that.

He has a cold that I can feel rumble in his chest. He coughs and his nose is runny. I suspect that may have played into his strong reaction when they gave him to us. Who wants new people when you are sick? It should be gone before we travel with him, but hopefully he won't have shared with us by then!

We have to be getting up soon. We have appointments back at the Guangzhou Civil Center Office to make the adoption final. Right now we only have temporary custody. We are scheduled to leave at 9 am from the lobby (that is 8 pm EST). I pray Elijah wakes up cheerfully! At least we know he is persistent and still has spirit. We a have always said that after parenting Kailey as a baby, we can handle any spirited little one!

Kailey and Justin are going to play on the island with Nana and Papa. There are statues everywhere that Mom wants to take pictures of with them.

Gotcha!

We wandered around the city a bit today, looking for a tailor to make a suit for my mom, but were unsuccessful. It at least kept us busy.

We met in the lobby of the hotel with the 3 other families who are in our group for getting their babies today at 3 pm. We had chartered a bus to take us to the Guangzhou Civil Affairs Office. It is only about 15 minutes away from the hotel. Once there, we were taken in to a room that had a large table and 3 other families who had just received their babies. They left shortly after we arrived, then they brought in the babies.

They gave Elijah to me telling him I was his mama. He cried. He continued crying until he just shut down and went to sleep about 20-30 minutes later. He didn't just cry, he was hysterical. It was an immediate reaction when he started his fit. (Greg's editorial note: "hysterical" doesn't even do justice to the intensity and duration. From the moment he was handed over, he had one serious meltdown). He was crying for "Ya Ya," which means Grandma. We suspect that is what he called his nanny. That makes me feel good that he is bonded to her. My heart is sad that he will be mourning the loss of her for a long time, but at least he knows what it means to be loved. He keeps calling for her whenever he is upset. We have also discovered that he is a thumb sucker. I'm glad he has that for comfort.

He decidedly prefers Greg to me right now. It isn't as bad as the other family I had mentioned. He cries if Greg hands him to me, but he stops fairly quickly. He cries if Greg leaves the room, but he will stop for me. If given the choice, he will always choose Greg, and doesn't cry when he goes to him. Y'know what? I'm okay with that. Greg isn't as happy, but it doesn't bother me. I expected it. I know that he will settle down. He has to deal with me and settle in at some point. Daddy goes off to work, and Elijah will have me. We'll bond. I'm not worried. He let me hold him, but then I bribed him with banana puffs (I'm no dummy.) (Greg's editorial: I already went through a child pretty well rejecting me for a long time. I am used to it. Guys tend to be a little more detached anyway while women tend to provide the stronger emotional stability. I would much prefer for him to be rejecting me right now. That connection is an area for prayer.)

Kailey and Justin are very happy to have him here. They are so anxious to help and to hold him and to play with him. It will be hard on them when they have to leave him on Saturday. They are going to have to adjust as we have to meet Elijah's needs at times before theirs. When he was so upset when they gave him to us, both Kailey and Justin were working hard to help without any encouragements or suggestions. Justin was singing "Wheels on the Bus" and Kailey was offering him toys. This made us very proud of them and also really touched our hearts.

Elijah is very banged up. He has scratches, sores, bumps and bruises all over him. His feet have dirt in the crevices that will likely not come clean until he has a new layer of skin. His toes are all scratched and banged up. We think that today was the first time he had worn shoes. It looks like he has run barefoot his whole life on concrete. He has a rather large knot on the back of his head that feels very bony. We are curious as to what a doctor would have to say about it. (editorial note: "knot" is too tame a description. He has a large bump about the size of a small fist on the back right of his head. It is not tender to him, nor is it mushy. He does not show any obvious neurological problems, but we will definitely be getting it checked out stateside.) As for his hypospadias, it seems to be pretty serious. We really aren't sure from looking, but it seems to be short, with chordee and have the meatus down near the scrotum. I'm sure the urologists at Children's will be able to give us a good idea of what should be done. (editorial note: I don't know what she just wrote).

After we returned to the hotel, we sat him down on the floor to play with him and start to get to know him. After a while, he did smile at Daddy's antics. I have no doubt that we will have a very different child on our hands by the time we get home.

We went downstairs to get a group photo of the nine families who are here now. Five of them are leaving in the morning. The other four will be leaving on November 18 or later. I think we are actually going to be the first to leave from that group.

We got Chinese takeout (kinda funny, if you think of it) to eat in our room, since we did not want to take Elijah back out again. We got to keep his clothes they brought him to us in. We need to go shopping tomorrow for shoes and a few odds and ends. The shoes he was wearing are thick, heavy, and are Chinese Power Rangers. Hmmmm. That doesn't reflect our taste, now does it?

FATHER'S PERSPECTIVE:
Yeah, the roller coaster hasn't stopped yet. One thing is certain that both Maren and I have already confirmed, we do love this guy. The poor little trooper is pretty beat up. Having been involved in child abuse investigations for so long, I can say without doubt that his bang-ups and bruisings are NOT the result of abuse. I am glad about that but am also glad to get him out of the orphanage to help him get healed up.

I have a lot of questions running through my head that I am eager to ask the professionals at Cincinnati Children's. I really wish we could get there a lot sooner than we can. I am not worried about his hypospadias condition, though admittedly it is much worse than I anticipated. To protect his privacy (no pun intended), I won't go into detail though I think that is what Maren provided with all those medical terms up a little bit! I am trying not to worry about his cranial condition. I can't tell if I am succeeding in not worrying or just doing a good job not thinking about it. One thing I do know, the Lord brought us this far and will take us the rest of the way. This is true whether or not there are conditions we know of or conditions of which we are not aware. When we had Kailey and Justin, we didn't know what we were going to get. We love them regardless. This will be true for Elijah as well. In fact, quite literally, even I as I type this, I am feeling better about things. Our great God feeds the sparrows and clothes the lillies. We have nothing to fear.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh, My!

Funny thing happened this morning at breakfast. Greg was wearing a grey tee shirt that said Baseball on it. This American guy walked up to him and asked, "You are an American, aren't you?" Greg said yes. The next question was, "Great, so who won the World Series?" He had been in some rural area in the west of China adopting and had been so out of touch that he hadn't heard.

We struck off on a new adventure today. Greg and I took the kids off on our own for the first time off Shamian Island. In case I haven't been clear, we are staying on Shamian Island. It was originally where the Chinese allowed the westerners to settle. The Pearl River runs along one side and they dug a canal on the other to separate it from the rest of China. They then posted guards on the bridges to shoot any foreingers who tried to cross without permission. Most of the buildings on the island are western style architecture. It is expensive to live here for the locals. One family we have developed a relationship with (they own The Shop on Stair, which is just that, a shop that goes up a flight of steps with goods on both sides and ends at the door!) pay RMB1500 to live on the island so they can keep the shop open later. If they lived across the canal, they would only have to pay RMB400 for a similar apartment. The US Consulate used to be here, but moved to the northern part of the city for a more secure facility. Many of the locals speak at least some English, most of the people here are business travelers or adopting Americans. The shops on the island are geared towards adopting little girls. At any rate, we left the island without a guide or my parents for the first time.

We asked the front desk to write the characters for the Guangzhou Zoo down on a card to show a cab driver and off we went. The Guangzhou Zoo is an interesting place. It is very much in transition right now. It was built in 1958 and is working to transition from caged animals to more open habitat enclosures. It is a beautiful place, but still needs a lot of work. The best feature is a new building called Ocean World. It was an amazing aquarium, similar to our Newport Aquarium. You enter down an escalator that descends through a fish tank tunnel. There are skates, sea turtles, crab, sharks, penguins, seals, and many animals I had never seen before. The kids would ask what something was, but we couldn't tell them since all the signs were in Chinese.

They did a dive show with 2 ladies dressed as mermaids who swam around in the big tank with the skates and other assorted fish. Then the diver went in to feed the skates. They flocked to him and covered him like a blanket looking for their share of the fish. It was very fun to see.

We ate a quick lunch--another noodle bowl. Cheap and filling. Then we went to the dolphin show. They started with a very fun sea lion demonstration. Then they moved on to the dolphins. Kailey and Justin got to go pet the dolphin. Then they brought out 2 trained beluga whales. Very impressive.

After the show we wandered the zoo. We were shocked to see the Chinese children throwing candy to the bears and no one stopping them. This must be standard because the bears seemed to expect it. There was trash in the cages that people had thrown in. They do not have the buffer zones like we have. The animals cannot get out or reach the people, but they are right under where people can stand.

One funny thing we saw was at a gibbon hill. Three workers were in the enclosure cleaning it out with lots of gibbons running around. One of them had a spray bottle that you pump to build pressure so that it will spray continuously. He had dropped the nozzle and one of the monkeys had grabbed it and run off with it. The zoo keeper was chasing him trying to retreive it, but the monkey was hiding from him. The monkey would spot him coming and would take off, across the enclosure and up something high. Then would take off again when the keeper would get close. The chase went of for quite a while, drawing quite a crowd of laughing spectators. The monkey finally dropped the nozzle and the keeper was able to retreive it and get back to work. Greg wondered who the bigger monkey was.

We left the zoo, caught a cab, showed him a card from the hotel telling him where to take us and returned safe and sound.

I should get to bed now. Tomorrow is a big day, and I want to be well rested for it. Before I go, we would all love to hear from home. We have already been gone for 13 days and we will not return home for another 12. I think periodic quick notes from home would make each of us feel more connected to our friends and family. We know you are there, reading our entries and praying for us, but we'd all love to hear from you. Thank you, and good night, all.

Random thoughts, part 2

Too many challenging posts. I need some levity. So, part two of Random Thoughts:

1. Seventy-five to eighty degrees in November rocks!
2. We have had some challeging experiences during this process, but I would take those any day over losing my job as did Bob and Bob. You guys are amazing.
3. Did I mention, "Get off the island"?
4. I get sore just looking at some of my kids sleeping positions.
5. It is much harder, aye impossible, to bargain with someone with whom you have made friends.
6. It is one thing to read about the "one child policy" and another to talk to a father under its demands.
7. America does not have the same sense of community as does China. America is worse off for it.
8. Veins are good in my body. Veins are bad in my food. Way gross!
9. Real feathers used on shuttlecocks are far superior than the cheap plastic we use.
10. When in Rome, take a pocket calculator.
11. Being able to scratch an itch on the other side of a guy's head on a motorbike while I am in a cab would generally suggest that we are too close. Here, it only means we have good elbow room.
12. There's no place like home.
13. Paint used for lane markings here is a waste of good paint.
14. We should all be homesick for heaven.
15. Airlines that will only send reconfigured tickets to your HOME address while you are half a world away should not be in business.
16. That airline is just plain stupid.
17. "Stupid" is another word we used to use pre-PC days.
18. I hope that airline stays in business long enough for me to get home!!
19. American Chinese food is disgusting. Chinese Chinese food is quite good.
20. Though as Maren pointed out, a big piece of chocolate cake would sure be good right now.
21. Chinese American food is very disgusting.
22. I will probably still try a pizza while I am here.
23. The thought of being here 12 more days is not very pleasant.
24. Does anybody know what time of day it is?
25. Does anybody really care?
26. I am a nightowl when I am at home or when I am 12 hours around the other side of the world.
27. Why are nightowls called nightowls? Are there any such things as morningowls?
28. Sidewalks here are misnamed. They should be called "siderides". They really are just an extension of the road.
29. I think cabbies drive down the middle of two lanes because they might just happen to want to use the other space, eventually.

I love roller coasters, but...

Greg>
Egads, my emotions are worn out. My childern saw me cry for perhaps the first time ever as I tried to explain some of the changes our family is about to experience. I shared good things and tough things. Then, I tried to help them understand what tomorrow is going to be like for our new little one. I tried to help them imagine what it would be like if tomorrow, mommy and I took them to a stranger, handed them off, and said, "Goodbye. We will never see you again and you will never see anything you have known ever again." So, tomorrow is a day we have geared up for for several years. Wonderful! It will also be one of the hardest days any of us have ever experienced. Horrible. When does the coaster end?

Motherhood musings

Tomorrow, we receive our son. We have waited, planned and prayed for this child for literally a decade or more. My stomach just flutters at the thought. My heart also breaks for Elijah ZuBin. Such a hard time is getting ready to happen in his life.

Picture this: take one of you children at 21 months, almost 2 years old. Now take them to another family who is going to leave the country with him/her forever. How long would your child mourn your family? Elijah is in an orphanage, but that is all the family he knows. The caretakers (called nannnies) tend to be pretty consistent here. He will be leaving all he has ever known behind. We have been working towards this for a decade, but he is clueless. Even if they explain it, he isn't even two years old yet. The explanation will be meaningless. Our prayer has always been that he would be bonded with his nanny. It will make the transition harder in the beginning, but will be better in the long run. Studies have shown that if a child has bonded once, they are much more likely to be able to bond again. Children who never bond in the early years may lose the capacity to bond.

It has been interesting to see the children here and hear their stories. One child, 16 months old, has rejected his new mother so far and will only let his father hold him. This is not uncommon with newly adopted children from orphanages, but it is so hard to watch. She looks so tired and frustrated. She is handling it, but it cannot be easy. The father left the room to go work on some paperwork, and the child cried for 2 hours. She only gets to hold the son she has longed and prayed for when he is sleeping. My heart hurts for her.

One child is 5 turning 6. He is Hep B positive and wasn't abandoned until he was 2. His birth parents got on a train with him, went to the largest city in the province and dropped him off alone. I can only imagine the terror and trauma that child experienced. He has had a male caregiver in the orphanage who was kind enough to explain the transition that was coming: you are going to be adopted, move to America, and be called Bill. Now this is not the name his parents have chosen for him, so that complicated matters as they had to try to convince him his American name is Zach, not Bill. The caregiver did not want to give Zach up. He refused to leave the room when he saw Zach was having a hard time with the transition and the orphanage director had to order him to leave the room. Zach is doing phenomenally well. His parents are believers and have been praying for him for a long time. It will be interesting to see how he heals from the huge traumas he has experienced already in his life.

It is so hard to think about the huge upheavals we are doing in the lives of these children. I keep coming back to this though, God has called us to come and get these children. Elijah ZuBin was created to be raised in our family. God has a purpose for him to be in the USA. Even though there will be great stress and problems as we make this change, it is ultimately for the best. Throughout the Bible, God used adoption to change the lives of people. Moses was adopted by the Pharaoh's daughter and God used that to free His people. Esther was adopted (or at least raised by) her uncle Mordecai and God used that to save His people. We are only saved if we are adopted into the family of God and become His children. Throughout the New Testament, God uses adoption as an illustration of our relationship with Him. This is a practice that was known during that time and was well thought of, or God wouldn't have used it to explain how we are grafted into His family. Adoption is a good thing. I also know that if these children were left here in the orphanages, they would have no future. They would be poorly educated, poorly thought of, have little chance to marry, and would have menial jobs with few benefits if left here. Where Elijah is going, he will be loved, educated, given opportunities, and above all, he will be invited to know Jesus Christ as His Lord and Savior with the opportunity to be adopted once and for all into his eternal family.

Knowing all this. My heart, that of a mother, still aches to hold him, to love him, to cry with him as he mourns the loss of all that he has ever known. We continue to pray that Father God would continue to Father my fatherless child until he has knit his heart with ours.

Cruisin'

We have just returned from a dinner cruise up the Pearl River and back. Yet another vehicle has been added to our list: a riverboat. There was what we think was supposed to be a western buffet, but it was awful. Greg leaned over to me after dinner and asked what we were going to have for dinner. Mac and cheese with unidentified stuff in it. Meatballs made of fish. Deep fried bread chunks that I think resembled croutons, but no salad. Fried rice. There is always fried rice. Everywhere you look there is fried rice. Oh, well. At least you can always fill up on rice. The kids did enjoy the sponge cake. At least the boat ride was worth the RMB68 ($8) per person we spent on it.

We let the children roam freely on the boat. They were grabbed into pictures by locals, posed with repeatedly, and otherwise fawned over. We have said that if we charged RMB10 per picture, we could have paid for the trip! People stare, turn to look, take pictures, touch, laugh, comment, and ask questions when they know enough English. Kailey and Justin are pretty good about it, but they are starting to get tired of it. It is easier here are Shamian Island for them since they are much more used to foreigners.

Here is some perspective for you that I gained tonight. Guangzhou is one of the smaller cities in China. There are between 6-8 million people here depending on your source. New York City has a population of 8 million people. That blew me away. It also explains a lot.

People, not policies

Greg>
Yesterday was a very hard day for me. Several things occured throughout the day that left me with many questions and new ways of looking at things.

First, earlier in the day, I spent about a half an hour talking with a local shop owner. We have talked business with him several times, but this was the first time we were able to speak on a personal level. He and I compared lifestyles. As he asked about my family, he almost apologetically mentioned that he only had one child. He has a little two-year-old girl, but he mentioned that because he and his wife did not have a boy the first time, they can have another child when his daughter is six years old. Whatever the sex of their next child, they have to be done. If they had a boy the first time, they could not have any other children.

Later, in the evening, we had dinner with many of the other new families to join us on the island. They, of course, had their new children with them. As we ate dinner in a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of Americans all with larger families and surrounded by Chinese who could not have such families, I was overwhelmed by a sense of....what?....I still don't know. I tried processing it last night with Maren, but me the social worker, could not identify what was going on in my mind.

The best that I can identify as to what was going on yesterday is that I have now spent more than a week living among the Chinese. I have eaten where they eat. I have shopped where they shop. I have made a friend or two. I believe yesterday was the demarcation point of going from "adopting a child because of a governmental policy" to adopting a child, a person, that was born to someone very much like those I have gotten to know. I am not getting a boy from a hated nation, a poor nation, a lousy policy nation. I am leaving this country, made up of God's creations, with one of their own. When I fly away, I will be taking something from them. And I am left to wonder.

Winter and Worship follow-up

So, I have to disagree with Maren. On the same day she posted that it is so exhausting, I had earlier commented that I could not believe how fast my body adjusted time zones. I feel no ill effects from the time lag. This eases my mind quite a bit because I had been wondering what flipping time zones would do to our boy.

I was very surprised by the worship service this morning. In addition to what Maren wrote, on our way out of the church, they were playing "Here I am to Worship" over the speakers. The church was certainly a throwback in most ways. It was simply one room with no fancy accessories. There was a speaker system and a powerpoint to contrast with the very old building. However, coming out to see the cordoned off area with the police stationed outside the church did make it feel "different".

I spent time after the service talking to the gentleman who spoke. It turns out he is a seminary student with one year left to attend at Guangdong Union Theological Seminary. This fellow clearly had a heart for the Lord. He worked a presentation of the Gospel into his service with a good emphasis on the individual/collective sin of man. This is too often missing in our modern day churches (Hope Church certainly excepted). I was VERY surprised at the clarity of the Gospel presentation and the unashamed teaching of the Word. I read so much about the persecuted church in China that I didn't know what to expect when going. Perhaps it is because we are in a city and an island that specifically caters to Westerners that it is permissible. I was also very surprised at the number of Chinese people attending the service. There had been an earlier service done all in Chinese yet probably 90 percent of attenders were Chinese at our Chinese-American service.

Following my discussion with this student, I took a walk with another fellow who turned out to be a professor at a nearby university. He asked if I knew anyone in the publishing business because he has translated a book into English that focuses on how the Holy Spirit helps us to understand God's Word. I told him I did not, but I asked if I could pray for him (thank you Pastor Larry for your regular example of doing this with others, even strangers). It was a neat moment as we sat in a park, and I was able to spend time praying for him and his efforts.

Hallelujah He Reigns.

Worshipping with the Saints

We just came back from Christ Church here on Shamian Island. It is a small church with straight-back wooden pews dating from the colonial period when the British were here. The place was packed. There were easily 300 people in there from many countries. We knew several of the families, as they were there through AGCI. Many were Chinese.

The service was called the Chinese-English Bible Study, and for good reason. Each time a speaker spoke, there were actually two speakers. The first one would speak in Chinese, the second would translate into English. We sang two song in Chinese. No English translation, but they had the characters up as well as the pinyon so we could sing too. (You have to know things like "qing" is pronounced "ching," but it worked. I have know idea what we were saying, but God was glorified, I am sure.) We also sang "Isn't He" and "Days of Elijah." Oh, my. Singing "Days of Elijah" in China with what I know about the persecuted church here absolutely brought me to tears. Here are the lyrics:

These are the days of Elijah
Declaring the Word of the Lord
And these are the days of your servant Moses
Righteousness being restored
And though these are days of great trials
Of famine and darkness and sword
Still we are the voice in the desert crying
Prepare ye the way of the Lord!

Behold He comes!
Riding on the clouds!
Shining like the sun!
At the trumpet call
Lift your voice!
It's the year of Jubilee!
And out of Zion's hill salvation comes!

And these are the days of Ezekiel
The dry bones becoming as flesh
And these are the days of your servant David
Rebuilding a temple of praise
And these are the days of the harvest
The fields are as white in the world
And we are the labourers in your vineyard
Declaring the word of the Lord!

Behold He comes!
Riding on the clouds!
Shining like the sun!
At the trumpet call
Lift your voice!
It's the year of Jubilee!
And out of Zion's hill salvation comes!

I kept thinking about the song "He Reigns" from the Newsboys. We were truly worshipping with the Asian believers, filled with God's holy fire. They taught from Genesis 27-28 about Jacob fleeing to Laban. The point was that we cannot make heaven on earth, and that we need to have a relationship with God to be right. Very powerful. Greg stayed after to try to talk to the pastor. I'm sure he will have more to share when he returns. I need to go feed the children lunch now.

Winter is Relative

It is so exhausting being here--the time change is just a killer, and we do not even have Elijah yet! Yesterday was Saturday, and by the time evening came, I was too tired to post.

Many more families have come to Guangzhou with AGCI who have adopted from other provinces. It has been neat to meet them and hear their stories. There are a surprising number of boys in our travel group, probably because these are all special needs adoptions. I have seen 4 girls--a 7 year old with a corrected cleft palate, a 3 year old who has vision issues, and twins, one who has a level one cleft palate. There are 7 boys in our travel group. One has a heart condition, one is 6 (I'm not sure what his special need is, if there is on beyond being six), one has malformed hands, one has a cleft palate, ours has hypospadia, then there are 3 more families still coming. I'm not sure what their stories are.

My mom, Kailey, and I went shopping yesterday with another couple at some of the stores we had checked out before. They bought a stroller (which they had planned to do here all along.) We were also scoping out shoes and some clothes, since there is very little for boys here on Shamian Island, with so many girls being adopted.

In the department store we were in, we watched a little boy [maybe two years old] waddle along with his pants around his knees. His mother got a plastic shopping bag from the clerk and held it for him to pee into. Then she took the little girl [maybe three years old] who was with them, pulled down her pants, scooped her into a supported squat, and held her over the bag to pee. Then she tied the bag shut and carried it around with her. We see kids peeing on the street all the time. [Of course, my parents have pointed out that they have seen adults peeing on the street in New York, Chicago, and Rome. We have seen none of that here.] Most little ones here do not wear diapers. They wear split pants with no crotch. Justin thinks that is hysterical that their privates and tush hang out for everyone to see. Parents carry their little ones with their tushies peeking. The littlest ones wear a cloth diaper with no plastic pants, but by six months or so, they cue their parents who hold them out to go where ever they are.

The other interesting thing is their concept of winter here. We are on the same latitude as Miami, FL. It is easily in the 80's here right now. I recognize that only Americans and Germans wear shorts outside of home or exercise, but here, beyond just wearing pants, people are wearing long sleeve shirts, jackets, sweaters, etc. They are selling puffy down coats in the stores. Fur lined shirts, padded jackets, snow pants too! Why? I do not get it. I recognize it is November and winter in parts of the northern hemisphere, but not here! We have also been told to dress Elijah in pants and long sleeves or the locals will fuss at us for not having him dressed correctly. We'll see. I brought long pants and tee shirts. Only two more days!

We are getting ready to attend the English speaking service here on the island in a few minutes. I'll fill you in later.

Rich fools

Greg>
I am compiling more random thoughts about our trip. I have had a lot of fun with those, but many have made me think as well. A recent thought that was to be added to the random thoughts is this:

"Every person reading this blog is rich. Believe it."

But as I continued to ponder this, I read Luke 12:13-21 in my quiet time and realized that my random thought really needed to be addressed to a greater detail. What follows is a set of cohesive thoughts compiled around one random thought.


Luk 12:13
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
Luk 12:14
Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”
Luk 12:15
Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Luk 12:16
And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.
Luk 12:17
He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
Luk 12:18
“Then he said, ‘This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
Luk 12:19
And I'll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’
Luk 12:20
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
Luk 12:21
“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”


Ok, so those weren't exactly my cohesive thoughts! Now, what really follows is my cohesive thoughts on things random and not so random.

Jonathan Burnham once taught a sermon that contained a lot of stats about people in the US compared to around the world. I cannot guarantee that the following statistic is exactly right, but I am pretty sure it is the statistic he provided.

"If you make at least $25,000 per year, you are in the top 1% of the richest people on the face of the planet."

Think about that for a moment. Nearly everyone reading this blog wishes he or she had "just a little more money" to do this, accomplish that, be happy, whatever. I have heard people say that they would give more to the Lord if He would just provide a little more for them. Rich Mullins once wrote in song, "Everyone says they need just one thing, when what they really mean is they need just one thing more." There are many of us, this writer at the front of the line, that are closer to being a rich fool than we care to admit. There are many of us who ARE rich fools yet pretend really well that Jesus was talking to those other people.

You have gathered from my blogs that I am absolutely amazed at the sheer number of people I see around me. I have been here now over a week and the awe has not lessened even one bit. I probably earn more in a month than most of these folks earn in a year. I made friends with a shop owner today. He and his wife both work 12-13 hour days seven days per week to try and make things work out for their family of 3 (one child policy and all that). I complain when traffic gets me home 15 minutes later than normal.

Luke 12:48b From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

I fear that we as a people, as a nation, as a church, as a family, and as an individual have no idea that we have been given much and that much is expected from us. We must repent of the attitude that we can do whatever with what we have. We must repent of the approach that says God can have a tenth but the rest is ours. Just so I don't sound like some pompous, self-righteous writer, please know that I have been repeatedly challenged during this adoption process and again very much on this trip that what I have is not mine. I don't "own it", I am NOT generously giving some of it. I am trying very hard to remember that I have been given much and that I am now being asked much. I am also failing an embarassing and humbling amount. And yet through it all, I remain rich.

May we be humble. May we be malleable. May we accept what is required and asked of us. May we not be rich fools.

Playing Frogger

Yesterday morning after we finished changing our flight arrangements to get home, we then went to the US Consulate to sign a form to give my parents power of attorney to take Kailey and Justin from China back to the US. We took a taxi from the hotel. You should see us; we must look like circus clowns. Dad rides up front with the driver. Mom, Greg and I ride in back with the kids on our laps.

We had to pass through very tight security to get into the consulate. Once we were inside, we were surprised at the staff. There were only 2 that we could see who were Caucasian. The rest were Chinese, with very heavy accents. At any rate, we got the forms signed and left for our next adventure.

We were trying to figure out how to get to our next destination, when I spotted a fountain on a building across the street. We just had to go check it out! But first, we had to cross the street. Our general strategy is to get with locals and cross when they cross. There weren't any traffic lights where we were crossing, but there was a marked cross walk. I am not exaggerating when I compare it to playing Frogger. There are no real breaks in the flow of traffic, so you just move between cars and hope the one you are stepping in front of will stop, or at least slow down. We crossed an 8 lane road to check out the fountain. On the other side of the street, Kailey commented to Greg that that was fun. He snorted and suggested they wait until they are an adult and are responsible for the life of another to call that fun. It was an amazing waterfall that literally covered the side of the building. Next to it was a beautiful garden. Behind it was the train station we had come in on. Who knew this was there? It was wonderful.

We caught another cab at the train station and took it to the base of Bai Yun Shan, translated as White Cloud Mountain. Now, as far as mountains go, it is only1,259 feet high, but we did not realize you could spend an entire day there. We took a cable car to the top (a new mode of transportation!) The view of Guangzhou was breath taking. The difference between Chinese cities and American cities is this: we tend to have a cluster of very tall buildings in one area, then shorten out to individual houses and other short buildings from there. Here, everything is 10 stories, or more. Ten stories may be a slight exaggeration, but nothing is only one story high.

(Notice our shadow on the top of the Pagoda!)

At the top we found lots more people. They were sitting, talking, playing that hacky sack game (they call it a shuttlecock, like in badmitton, according to our travel coordinator), walking in huge tour groups, and more. Apparently at the top of White Cloud Mountain there is also bungee jumping, grass skiing, and tobagganing, but we did not see it. We went through a huge enclosed bird observatory. There were ducks, swans, cranes, hurons, and peacocks. There were tons more, but I have no idea what kinds of bird there were. It was so nice to be surrounded by green and listen to the sounds of nature. Very nourishing to the soul. Greg made an observation a couple of years ago that I think there is some truth to. People who live in cities may sometimes have a harder time staying close to God, because they are surrounded by the works of the hands of men. Out in nature, we see the works of the Hands of our Creator and can be humbled more easily.

We took the cable car back down, caught a cab, and returned to the hotel for dinner. We ate at a restaurant in the hotel and were pleasantly surprised. They had sesame beef, which was deep fried, then encrusted in ground sesame seeds and cashew. It was wonderful. We also had beef sauteed in garlic, beef sauteed in a sauce with lots of mushrooms, and chicken in a lemon sauce (the kids loved that, but the rest of us avoided it.) Now for lunch, we ate in a hole in the wall near the consulate. Hmmm. I think I mean that literally. We were escorted upstairs of this little restaurant to a small room with a six foot ceiling. We know the exact height because Greg's hair touched the ceiling when he stood. The food was great (Singapore noodles, fried rice and steamed dumplings) and the whole family ate for RMB40, including the tip ($5 US.)

I took the kids back up to the hotel room to give them some time to decompress before bed (they didn't get their quiet time today.) Mom, Dad, and Greg went shopping on the island. It is so funny here. Some things are so cheap: a girl's silk dress for $6, a Casio calculator for $2, 4 silk ties for $7.50 (total), but other things are so expensive. We have to get to Hong Kong to catch our flight home. The flight leaves at 10:05, so we need to be a the airport by 8 am. The hotel shuttle (which costs $35/person) doesn't get there until 9:30. We will have to hire a van that will cost $300! And don't use the hotel laundry! That costs a fortune, but it would still be cheaper than staying the night in Hong Kong.

New Travel Arrangements!!!

Our Consulate appointment has been confirmed for November 16 at 9:30 am; our swearing in ceremony is November 17 at 4 pm. We can leave the country any time after 8 pm on November 17. This applies to all four families who were in the boat with us. We are so excited. Now we have flights.

Here is our flight information:

United Airlines 890 Nov 18 10:05 am HKG to 2:50 pm NRT

United Airlines 882 Nov 18 5:55 pm NRT to 2:14 pm ORD

United Airlines 1123 Nov 18 4:10 pm ORD to 6:24 pm CMH

We are very thankful to have worked this out. We'll keep you posted with any further developments. Thank you for all your prayers!

retro pics

FYI,
Maren had been having trouble adding pictures. She has figured out what the problem is and added pictures to several of the previous posts. You may be interested in scrolling back through the posts to see them.

Other interesting things we have seen

This is carved mammoth ivory. The balls on the sculptures have over 40 layers!

They carry amazing things on bikes. This guy was deliverying water and had 12 five gallon bottles!

This woman was washing silk worm coccoons. She would open them up, remove the worms, then rinse them out. They would get stretch, dried and spun. On the right are bags and bags of silk worm coccoons waiting to be cleaned. Oh, and the restaurant last night served silk worms too!

A walk in the park

Greg>
We did some new things today. Ok, yeah. There were about a bajillion more shops, storefronts, holes in the wall? I don't mean to be disrespectful, I just really don't know what to call them. But, we did other things as well. We rode yet another new vehicle today. We started our day on the subway and took it to some old schoolbuilding called Chen Family Clan. I was done after about 4 minutes. Pretty much if no battles were fought there or no one died there, I am not interested. Again, not meant to be disrespectful, it is just the way I am wired. Anyway, we wandered around and looked at a bunch of old stuff. Yippee! We did see a pretty cool lizard crawling around one of the sculptures...this old school was converted into a place to show artsy things...ohhh, the fun! Justin also experienced a small bit of stardom as several folks asked to get a picture of him. At first, they took a picture just of him but then they rotated through getting their picture with him. This happened later in the day to both of our children. I got a pretty neat picture of two people taking pictures of our kids.

After the old school, we went in search of a bus to take us to the civil affairs office as our guide had some paperwork to drop off there. We were told it was just two busstops away so we decided to walk. Well, two busstops is a relative sort of thing. More than a mile later, we finally arrived at our destination. This wasn't bad for us, but we were with another family who is not used to walking very much and one of whom recently had surgery to fuse three vertebrae in her neck. Everyone except Carl and I ate lunch at Starbucks. Carl and I were taken to a Chinese fast food restaurant by our guide who then left to go to her appointment. Let's just say Starbucks doesn 't get less expensive on this side of the pond. I have never even tried coffee and was just given a bunch of yuan more reasons why not to!

Following lunch, Carl and the kids and I wandered through this really cool park, called The Peoples Park, right in the heart of the business district (of course, everywhere is the business district here). Even in the middle of the day, it was a hoppin place. We saw some strange sights. In one part of the park, people were learning how to ballroom dance...to traditional Chinese music. Very strange to watch. Even stranger to watch two men doing it. In other parts of the park we saw people doing karaoke, more dancing, singing, playing their version of hackysack, and more. The four of us walked up to a grandstand pagoda kind of thing in which were 6-7 older people playing various instruments (including a lap synthesizer kind of thing) and singing what sounded to be traditional Chinese folk songs. We stopped to watch and listen. There was a crowd around them of maybe 20 people watching and some singing along. After awhile, they all looked at us and ,began a lively song that I could not place right away, but as it was a catchy tune, began to clap rhythmically. Then my son began singing with them. Wait a minute. How cool is that? My son had the early church gift of tongues! He could understand their words and was joining in. Wait. What is that? Oh, come on. You can't be serious. Jingle Bells???!! Sure enough. Jingle bells, Chinese style. Oh, what a jolly good time. They got done and every one cheered. As we stayed awhile longer, more people came up and gestured commentary about both kids hair. One guy seemed to be asking if Justin's hair color was real or dyed. He was thrilled to learn it was his actual hair color. Either that, or I told him my son was a one eyed snail who couldn't urinate. It is pretty hard to tell when everyone is just pointing and making really dramatic faces.

As we were leaving the park, Justin was asked to join in with about 6 other people of wide age ranges who were playing a game similar to our hackysack. That was one of the cool things about this park. Clearly several of the people in this game did not know each other. People just sort of flowed in and out of it with great friendliness and welcoming. I have seen this effect elsewhere with this game and both he and I have joined other games.

As we exited the park, more people wanted pictures of the kids. One guy had a cool setup. This park was really very beautiful. He tried to get us to have him take pictures of the kids that he would then print right then and there and give to us for a price. I rejected that offer. He was so besmitten of them, however, that he still took several pictures. He then opened his pack, and had a printer right there. He printed off a picture and gave it to Kailey for free.

The rest of the family took a taxi while Carl and I walked back to the hotel. I bought a new pair of shoes right before this trip. I might have to buy another right after I get home!

Dinner tonight was pretty varied with chicken, pigeon, beef, pork, rice, and some undetermined stuffed pastry sort of thing. It is best not to ask too many questions. Especially since much of the food for people is still alive and on display in the front of the restaurant when you walk in. Maren commented that the entry to the restaurant greatly resembled Jacks Aquarium and Pets. She also thought it was wrong to be able to have a biology lesson while eating dinner. See my random thoughts entry for greater details. Carl ate a pigeon head. Hmmm, pretty sure I couldn't pull that one off. Meaning eating of the head, not yanking the head off. Though I am pretty sure I could not do that either.

Tomorrow likely holds a trip to the consulate and to the top of a large hill/small mountain called Baiyuan Mountain. It is supposed to be very beautiful. We also hope to hear if we definitely have earlier consulate appointments for the end of the trip.

Til tomorrow...

Some random thoughts, per Greg

1. All sales are final. Buyer beware.
2. American moms would have a fit here. There are no napkins, unless in a western restaurant.
3. Receipts are like napkins.
4. Why is it that Americans think of Chinese-made goods as cheap and to be avoided yet will get to China and spend hours upon hours oohing and ahhing over literally thousands of shops and millions of goods.
5. Traffic laws here don't even rise to the level of suggestion.
6. I have seen rivers that don't flow around slower obstacles as good as various vehicles here can.
7. We have seen literally hundreds of thousands of cars, buses, bicycles, motorbikes, etc. and exactly one, yes just one, traffic ticket being issued. What could that person possibly have done?!
8. Pedestrians DO NOT have right of way unless you consider riding on the face of someone's radiator grill your right to assert your way.
9. It is good I don't drive here. I am afraid I might have to "tap" a motorbike as it rode up and pulled in front of me at a stoplight when I was in the first position.
10. When you order 1/2 a chicken you get a half a chicken.
11. I didn't know you could split the head of a chicken so cleanly from top to bottom.
12. The kids did not react like I thought they would when I showed them the inside of a cooked chicken head with all parts still present....well, half of them anyway.
13. The chicken we had was really really, no I mean really dumb. I have heard of birdbrained and half-brained, but this bird had both.
14. I never thought I would see the day when my kids would pick up half a head with their chopsticks and then continue to eat. I sure am proud of these guys!
15. Pigeon, cooked well, is actually very good.
16. I can't believe I just wrote that.
17. I can't believe I meant it.
18. A whole cooked pigeon head on your plate is surprisingly much more disconcerting than a cooked half chicken head.
19. They sure like their lights here. Las Vegas should have so much neon in places.
20. I never knew you could animate an entire side of a 50(?) story building. That's cool.
21. China is just beginning to grasp capitalism...at least in areas.
22. Someone should teach them about supply and demand.
23. Price tags are for sissies.
24. "Sissies" is a word we used to use pre-PC days.
25. If you feel like you ripped them off and they feel like they ripped you off, it was a success.
26. We got ripped off once today, and I knew it. I won't sleep well tonight.
27. It is amazing, I mean amazing how a place can be so dirty and so clean all at once.
28. Get off the island. This is my new metaphor for life. Our hotel is on a beautiful and safe island. It is also dull and safe. Life happens off the island but most Westerners will never know it. Wherever you are in life, get off the island.
29. Foiling pickpockets was really fun today. Rookies.
30. China will never be a total player on the world stage until they understand how to use sugar.
31. Listen to your guide when she tells you not to eat from a certain street vendor because she will refuse your call to her in the middle of the night from the hospital.
32. Runs are only fun if you are in track.
33. Or baseball.
34. There is nothing quite like the disappointment of drooling over people in town eating corn on the cob and ordering one for yourself after days of watching this only to find out that they use feed corn rather than sweet corn.
35. Squid on a stick looks creepily cool.
36. I will never know how it tastes.
37. We would not have chosen to arrive a week early, but I am really glad we did.
38. Does anyone know where I can get good pigeon back home?

Another Day, Another Market

Well, Guangzhou is, after all, the historic center for western trade in China! Today we went to the Pearl and Jade Market. Picture a mall the size of Kohl's, six stories high, filled with beads. Greg was surpised that stores like Ohio Gems and Beads could exist selling only beads. Who knew there could be a whole mall of beads!?! We went to an outside market across the way where they had more trinkets.

We took a taxi to get there. Wow. What an experience! They said in a guide book that China has 2% of the world's cars, but 20% of the accidents. It was like a roller coaster ride! Pedestrians definitely do not have the right of way. Cars, buses, motorbikes, pedal bikes, and pedestrians pulling carts compete for space. Vehicles practically touch. Everyone drives ridiculously fast. Horns honk everywhere. It is just scary. I'm amazed we haven't seen any accidents yet.

The kids and I left Mom, Dad and Greg to keep shopping and returned to the area around our hotel. We ate dinner at the "American" restaurant named Lucy's. The food is expensive and mediocre. Justin had PB&J, while Kailey had grilled cheese. I had a chicken wrap. It cost RMB99 ($12). While we ate we watched what seemed to be a talent show in the park. There was traditional Chinese singing (sounds like caterwauling to me!), dancing, and a Chinese opera. The kids enjoyed the experience, but did not appreciate the singing either.

We also saw a Chinese school class sitting in a courtyard while one of the little ones made a presentation, then the other kids asked questions. Justing and Kailey enjoyed watching. We have been trying to figure out the school schedule here. We know they go in the mornings. We also see kids there at 8 pm. Kids are out in the afternoons, but keep their uniforms on all day.

Dinner was at the same restaurant we at at last night. We had sweet and sour chicken, pan fried dumplings, goose, fried rice, and white rice. After dinner, we walked down to see the light show that is every evening at 8 pm over the Pearl River. These Chinese sure like their lights! Buildings everywhere are covered in neon. Some of them show movie like commercials on the entire side. Cruising boats are covered in lights. The river banks are lined with lights. Then they show flood lights and lasers in time to music. Just fascinating.

After we returned to the room and got the kids to bed, we received the email saying that we have a new appointment for November 16 with a swearing in on November 17. It turns out that they do not do swearing in ceremony on Mondays, but on Tuesday-Friday. Regardless, we have ours sooner. We are waiting for confirmation from All God's Children which should come very soon. After that, as Greg said before, we need to get our flights changed. We will work on that first thing in the morning. Please pray that we are able to get seats on a flight that gets us in at a decent hour on November 18. If we can swing it and the Lord wills it, we will be at the Adoption Sunday service. We may be dead on our feet, but we'll be there. We will, however, not be having a reception following at our house as we had discussed before we left.

We will post our details just as soon as we have them. I'll keep you posted as we stay on our knees while watching God work all this out.

No other gods

Today we walked through yet hundreds more streetside "stores". I entered one stall only to be confronted by hundreds of various kinds of idols. I was reminded of the command to have no other gods before God. I was sad (not the right word but it is too late to try and figure out the right word) for the owner, the people, and the nation. They have before them many other gods...and the gods can do absolutely nothing. Our trip has been one episode after another of experiencing our living God. To God be the glory.

No skipped beat but paying closer attention

Friends and family,
Your prayers are amazing. We are in need of some more. But hope shines anew. We just learned via email that our congressman's office was able to get the OK from the US consulate here in Guangzhou to move our exit interview up to the 16th and the swearing in to the 17th. The swearing in cannot take place until 4pm. The last flight out of Hong Kong towards where we are going is at 6:30 that night. Alas, we are 3 hours away from the airport so we cannot leave until Saturday. This all sounds well and good, but in some ways, getting flights to work out will be even a bigger headache than getting the appointments changed. John Boehner has a lot of power, but I don't think he can make United airlines fly a special flight for us or get them to allow us to switch over our tickets easily! Further problems with our tickets mean that we are going to have to buy another ticket for Elijah which will have to be full fee. This is OK as I recommitted that our finances were God's finances this morning during quiet time. Not that He needed my permission or anything! We still may be able to make it home in time for the adoption Sunday, but a lot really still needs to happen in a very crisp order.

Please pray that our appointments for those days can be confirmed. We should know this by the time we wake up tomorrow. Please pray that flights work out such that we can get back home by Saturday evening.

He who created a good work in us will be faithful to complete it. Of this we are certain. We do not know the expected date of completion, but that is why we are not the foremen.

Beijing Road

Today we followed what seems to be working out as our routine: get up, go down for breakfast, go on an outing, take the kids back to the hotel for some quiet time and a couple school lessons (math and reading), then dinner, and back to the hotel for bed for the kids.

Our outing today was to Beijing Road. It is a more modern shopping district with department stores and small shops. One department store we were in had nine floors, and included a small supermarket. My mom ran out of deoderant and has discovered that apparently China is an untapped market for deodorant (all P&G employees take notice, now you just have to convince them that they need it. No arguement here!) We have smelled some funky people (especially on the city bus we took today!), but not as many as you would think without much deodorant usage going on. Mom said in Malaysia the funk of the people overpowered the funk of the fish market! The good news is, she did have a choice between 2 deodorant products in that small supermarket and made a purchase. This is, of course, after visiting 3 markets that did not carry any deodorant at all. Another observation, Mom's favorite hair conditioner that was discontinued in the USA was available in this store. She is considering how much she can take back with her.

We ate meat on a stick for lunch today. We bypassed the chicken stomach and other assorted entrails on a stick as well as whole squid on a stick in favor of unidentified meat balls, crab balls, chicken legs (on a stick, who knew you needed a stick to serve chicken legs?), lamb, and feed corn on a stick. Apparently they do not know the difference between feed corn and sweet corn. Greg and Justin who both love sweet corn on the cob took one bite. Greg said he had no idea corn could have that texture. Most of it did taste good, and no one left the table hungry.

Beijing Road has glassed over reminent of brick roads dating dating from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) They have dug down further and have sections that date back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907) too. These are under the current road, which is closed to all but foot traffic.
Very interesting to see.

For dinner, we ate at a great little restaurant with the best sweet and sour chicken I have ever had. Who knew that is what it was supposed to taste like? We also had pan fried goose, roasted pork Macau style (layers of fat, very strange, but the meat had good flavor), beef in a pot with ginger and whole garlic cloves (delicious) and Chinese broccoli. No one there spoke any English, so there was a whole lot of pointing going on. It's a good thing there is English and Chinese on the menus as well as pictures.

The kids are holding up very well. Justin shuts down part way though dinner each night. He eats, then is done and a zombie until we carry him back to the hotel. Kailey keeps plugging right along. They are game to try things and are willing to taste just about anything. We are impressed. Justin bounces down the street, which could be part of why he is done by 6:30. My mom describes him as a perpetual motion machine using four times the amount of required energy to complete the given task. I repeat, whatever school teacher who would have had him this year should write me a letter and thank me for homeschooling him. Who would want that bundle of energy to attempt to contain in a desk?

We are working on figuring out how to get to Elijah ZuBin's finding place. It appears to be about 4 hours away in a small village north of here. Hopefully this weekend we will be able to work it out.

Just so you know, the plan is for Mom and Dad to leave on the 11th with Kailey and Justin as planned. This means we will only have to convert 3 of the 7 tickets instead of all of them. It will also save some money at the end on hotel and food.

Tomorrow I believe we are going to the jade and pearl market. Kailey is very excited. She was given some money to spend and has decided that she really likes jewelry. I'll update soon!

The Issues and Where We Stand Now

We received confirmed appointments for leaving today. They currently have us scheduled for our exit interview on November 20, our swearing in ceremony on November 21, and departure on November 22 or so. This puts us traveling on the day before Thanksgiving. We are so disappointed in how late the appointments are scheduled. We and the other couple who is already here are contacting various members of congress to ask for help in changing these appointments yet again. The other family's senator is Norm Coleman of Minnesota who is a big supporter of adoption and holds a reception each year for adoptive families. Ours is Representative John Boehner, who is the Majority Leader of the House. We are praying that they will be able to make some exceptions and allowances to get us in sooner.

Here are the big issues:
1. We receive Elijah ZuBin on November 7. We will sign gardianship papers at this point and he is in our custody from then on.
2. We have a Civil Affairs office visit on November 8 with the Chinese government. This works towards making the adoption final and getting his passport.
3. It takes 5 business days to get the passport. We should receive it on November 15.
4. November 16 is full at the US Consulate, so we cannot get an appointment on that day at this time.
5. The swearing in ceremony happens the next day at 4 pm. They apparently do not do these on Fridays.

We are asking them to make several exceptions for us. The government is not good at making exceptions. Our problems right now are not with the Chinese bureaucracy, although that is where they started. Initially, the way we understand it, the Guangdong province got a new director for adoptions. He changed part of the process making it take longer. Then he decided there were too many appointments each day and things needed to slow down. That moved our original appointment from the 30th to the 31st. This did not allow time to get the passport before the visa could be issued. Veterans' Day on the 10th made this impossible, thus cancelling all of our appointments before we left. This is why all this has been so complicated.

God is an on time God and is in control. We work very hard to remind ourselves of this many, many times daily.

My Father's Hand

Greg here.
I am trying to be attuned to hearing the Lord while here. I must say, it is very very difficult. There is so much busyness and hub-bub that it is hard to find time away. Even walking around (which we have done more of in the past few days than I have in the past year) is too hard to concentrate. There are just so many people and so many things going on. However, yesterday afternoon, I had a great moment of understanding our dear Father better.

Most of you know that Kailey tends towards the cautious and often fearful. She is doing and experiencing things that, well , I am just doing for the first time as well. Her comfort zone is not being streched; it is being exploded.

During our first few days, she really hung close. She almost always was holding an adult's hand and often had her body pressed up against ours. She has relaxed over our trip as her zone has expanded. She now is walking most places with no physical contact with us.

There was a moment yesterday where we were walking along and, I can't really explain how, but the environment changed. It was subtle, not tangible, and quite possibly Kailey and I were the only ones to notice. My internal security perked up right at the moment hers did. Certainly no one else in our group said anything, but Kailey and I definitely sensed something the others didn't. The moment was brief, perhaps just a minute long but it was there. And here is where I drew closer to God. It was not because of anything I did or any prayer I offered. In fact, I was too busy scanning my other internal sensors to lift anything to the Lord. But at that moment, Kailey responded just as subtly. She quietly slipped her hand into mine. That was it. No big fanfare and not even a word. She reached up, and slid the palm of her hand into the palm of my hand. And she was safe. Simply because she had her daddy's hand, nothing could harm her. Life lessons about her daddy's fragility will come later. For about a minute in her day, at a time when she really needed a loving touch, a secure touch, she reached for me.

Wow! I was so grateful to my Father for making me aware of these events that I almost started crying right there while walking down the street. How special for me to be used to protect one of His little ones.

I then thought of my Father's hand. He is always right there for me. There are times when I need him so badly that I press right up to him. While there are never times when I don't need Him at all, there are times when I am secure not being pressed right up to Him. However, when I become scared or need His touch, I can reach my hand quietly and place it right in His. And when I am there, nothing can come against me. I am safe. I am protected. I am loved. In that moment with Kailey, if something would have gone wrong, I would have laid my life down for my girl. I would not even have thought twice. My Lord laid His life down for me when something went wrong. I owe all to Him.

The Market Place

One note before I get started: we cannot actually go to the blog, so we cannot read any of the comments there. The first day we were in Hong Kong, we were able to access everything, but after that the page will not come up. We do not know if the problem was in China or in the computer. So, if you want to comment, please email us directly so we can see them.

Such the adventures today! As I said last night, Justin fell asleep at the restaurant at 6:30. We carried him back to the hotel and tucked him in. He slept until 8:30! Breakfast was western food in the hotel restaurant. We get two free meals per room and only have to pay for the kids. Not a bad deal. Greg is of the opinion that as long as he can get a solid western breakfast and get filled up, he will be fine for the day.

The kids and I also had our first experience with eastern toilets. Justin was especially fascinated. They are basically a thin toilet bowl imbedded into the floor with foot rests on either side. You squat to use the facilities. All were successful, you will be pleased to know.

The kids went swimming in the rooftop pool. They found the water to be a bit cold and spent their time floating Kailey’s shoes on a string. The pool will only be open for a couple more days since winter is coming. Hard to picture it with temps in the 80’s.

We met our travel coordinator, Qin Lei (Chin Lay) in the lobby along with another couple, Beth and Brian, who traveled as planned as well. They are adopting a little boy from this province, but another orphanage. It turns out that there are 2 more couples coming to this hotel to adopt from that other orphanage next week.

We went to lunch at a Chinese fast food restaurant. They serve noodle bowls and rice bowls. Very good and rather nutritious (especially compared to fast food in the US.) All 6 of us ate lunch for RMB54. Divide by 8 for American. We will be eating there a lot.

We went across the canal to the market. Oh, my. We first entered the Qing Ping Market. There were cats, bunnies, chickens, ducks, eels, snakes, scorpions, frogs, shrimp, fish, and turtles, all alive, all waiting to be someone’s dinner. Kailey was not happy to learn that that kitty was meant for the table, not as a pet. There were no dogs, though. We watched a shopkeeper package up eels for sale, sorting them into a large plastic bag, then adding a large chunk of ice, and filling the bag with air. The kids were spellbound to watch the eels be tossed through the air, alive, and squirm around in the plastic bag.

As we continued to wander through the markets, we noticed that the shops ran in themes. Most of the spice and dried medicine stalls were grouped together. There was a street of shoe stores, a street of electronics, a street of live animals, and a street of pets and pet goods (hard to tell from dinner, they were just cleaner!). We did not buy anything today (except a pair of pj’s for Kailey, she was jealous of mine so Greg and Dad took her out special tonight to buy her a pair of silk jammies—only $6.50 US!)

The kids and I were out for a little walk and passed a park behind our hotel. There were Chinese soldiers there doing hand to hand combat exercises and practicing throwing for hand grenades. That was a little alarming. This was contrasted with the bride and groom there having wedding photos taken in the park as well. Such diversity.

Dinner tonight was at a western restaurant. Dad, however, had some sort of Asian soup. Kailey was a little alarmed at the face that was still attached to Dad’s shrimp. She, like me, apparently prefers not to have dinner looking back at her.

We came back to the hotel, put Justin to bed, sent Kailey shopping for jammies with the guys, Mom settled down with a book, and I went to get a massage. The hotel advertises that at the massage parlor in the same building, you can get a massage for RMB198. When I got there, as I went downstairs, I started wondering if it wasn’t a truly full service Chinese massage parlor. There were men lined up at the back and all the women wore these cute little dresses. Hmmmm. At any rate, the massage was great and has really worked to rid me of some of the major knots from the trip.

Well, it is off to bed. Tomorrow is an equally full day. Oh, we did find out that our request to visit the orphanage before we receive Elijah ZuBin was denied. Qin Lei will ask again if we can visit after we receive him next week. She says they will frequently say yes after custody has been transferred. We will also be making arrangements to go visit his finding place. More tomorrow! Hopefully then we will find out our appointment dates and can then make arrangements to come home.

Good night.

Humanity: Experiential and theoretical

Greg here for my first post.
The trip for me has been physically more difficult than for the others. I woke up the morning we were to fly out with a sinus infection. Egads! I haven't had one of those for more than a year. The pressure changes as we took off and landed over and over again wrecked havoc on my sinus problems. One benefit was that the pressure actually seemed to have the effect of blasting out the infection. I basically was blowing my nose and wiping my eyes out the entire trip as both just ran and ran and ran. The down side to all of this is that that it seems fluid got pushed into my inner ear and triggered vertigo. I have been dealing with this off and on since we arrived. It is unsettling, but my spirits are good. I was totally unable to sleep on the plane. I ended up getting only about 3 hours of sleep in the previous 48. That is a large part as to why I have not yet posted. As that crazy dude on Night Court used to say, "But I am feeling muuuuuch better now!"

The mass of humanity is simply unbelievable. There is just no way to describe it. I have never seen so many people. I mean to tell you, people and extremely large buildings just go on and on and on. At the same time, we have witnessed tiny little ramshackle shantys that are barely standing. I pointed out to Kailey that we live on a 1/2 acre lot in a big house and entire familys are living in such impoverished places.

I am also gaining a new perspective on possible thought processes of minorities. You see we got on a plane and after a few hours we were suddenly a minority. But here is the thing. I don't feel like a minority. As I look around, I just see the beautiful tapestry of people created by God. But, I am a minority here. During my quiet time this morning, I reflected on how minorities in the states do not feel any different. They look out of eyes and see other people...just people. However, their experiences by others often communicate that there is something wrong with them just because of how they look. This is just not right. I know this is real basic stuff for all of our friends who find themselves in the minority in the States, but it is a new experience for me.

Observations on China

We are in Guangzhou now. The train trip was nice. We loaded up all of our luggage (and with our suitcases, carry-ons, and 3 bags of humanitarian aid, there is a ton!) to head to the train station. We had to split between 2 taxis to get there. (Kailey and I counted our different vehicles we have traveled in so far: 3 planes, taxis, a double decker bus, a tram, a ferry boat, and shuttle buses. Quite a good list, wouldn't you say?) We had to go through customs and fill out paperwork to actually enter Mainland China. They wanted to know, in part, if we had bird flu. Hong Kong may have been returned to China 7 years ago, but it still feels different and acts differently.

As we rode, we kept waiting to get to the countryside, but it was never quite there. Hong Kong was sky scrapers as far as the eye could see. Kowloon wasn't any different. The train station was in Kowloon where our hotel was. The buildings never really stopped. They have apartment buildings that are 20-30 stories high all over the place and continue to build more. You can tell the difference between an apartment building and an office building by the laundry. Everyone hangs their laundry outside their windows. Every window of every building is decorated with clothing of all colors. Many of the balconies are covered with plants too. All along the way were factories, apartments, offices, and shacks. There were pockets of good sized gardens that were either community gardens or farmers' fields growning produce. There were squatters' villages with corregated metal shacks on the hillsides. There were fish ponds growing commercial fish. We saw no animals, which I found odd.

There were people riding bikes and motor bikes. I was surprised to frequently see 3 people riding a motor bike at the same time. There were even people wearing the traditional cone shaped straw hats. That surprised me too.

One observation I have made is in the lack of small children out on the street with their families. We have seen lots of kids maybe age 5 and up, all well dressed and cared for, but no kids younger than that, and no babies. That is, until this morning. Mom and I went to buy tickets for the train. We had to walk several blocks in Kowloon to the travel agent to buy them. We arrived promptly at 9, when we were told it opened. The man there told us they sold no tickets until 9:30, so please to have a seat and wait. As we waited (while he did nothing but wander around), I noticed maybe a half dozen couples carrying their bundles of newborn babies upstairs. We do not know for sure, but we think that is where they had to go register their new babies. We saw lots of children Saturday in the late morning as the schools let out. They all wear school uniforms and look so cute.

We arrived safely in Guangzhou. At the train station, Dad had to give up the banana and 2 apples he had purchased in Hong Kong since it is illegal to import fruit, even from Hong Kong. Two baggage handlers took our great load of bags, but also made it clear that they expected to be tipped. They made the international sign for money to Greg (rubbing their fingers and thumb together), and then stopped at the money changing counter and basically told us to change some money to RMB so we could pay them. It sure felt like extortion: if you want your bags back, you better pay us.

Our travel coordinator Leila was waiting for us downstairs. We felt badly, because our original plans were to arrive in Guangzhou at 10 am, but we changed it last Thursday to 2 pm. It would have been difficult for us to get to the train station any sooner. Leila had not gotten the message, though. She had been waiting there since 10. She is a very sweet girl who will helpo us jump through all the hoops to finish this adoption.

She told us that we still do not have an exit interview scheduled, but that we would be receiving Elijah ZuBin on November 7. We will receive his passport on November 13, so hopefully our appointment to exit will be able to be scheduled shortly after that. She is going to put in a request for us to visit his orphanage. This may even be able to happen before we get him, which is actually our preference. We will not be taking him with us on an orphanage visit (to hard and confusing on him), so if we can go before we get him, we do not have to split up the family.

I need to go so I can get some sleep. Justin fell asleep at dinner tonight (6:30 pm here). He had been up since 4 am. I know he was awake at 4 because I was awake with him. I can barely keep my eyes open, so I will go crash.

Please keep praying for those dates!

Planes, Trains, and Autobuses (and a Boat!)

We had a great day today. We got up this morning at 7. The kids thought it was funny that all of their friends would be going to bed soon. My dad took them swimming, then we headed to breakfast. We ate at a western restaurant and had scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, and hash browns. We then did a little shopping in a Chinese grocery store. It was amazing to see how many familiar foods they carried. We needed to buy bottled water since we can't drink the water here.

We then caught the shuttle to go to the Star Ferry that would take us to Hong Kong. We are actually staying in Kowloon, a penisula that is across Victoria Bay from Hong Kong. We had great fun on the ferry--a first class ticket on the top deck was only $2.20HK. Divide by 7 for the American amount. Hong Kong is an amazingly busy city, with a big green hill in the middle with almost nothing on it. We took the tram to the top of the hill called Victoria Peak. The view was amazing. There was a 7 story mall with an overlook on the roof. Hong Kong has more sky scrapers than you can imagine. It seems that the entire perimeter of the island is surrounded with sky scrapers. We then rode on the top of a double decker bus through the city to get back to the ferry.

We ate dinner back at the restaurant we ate at last night. Justin had his same bowl of beef and noodles. Kailey very happily ate sauteed chicken and soy sauce. Greg ate, get this, chicken and tofu. There was a little misunderstanding when reading the menu and communicating with the waiter. He actually enjoyed my spicy chicken, though. Kailey has discovered that she really likes duck.

All in all, a good day. Tomorrow we will take the train to Guangzhou. A new chapter in our adventure.

Please continue to pray for us as we wait for our dates. We won't hear anything until Monday. Such a hard time to wait when you don't know when you will get to leave for home. We continue to trust Him, though.

We Made It Safely

It was a grueling trip--one that almost was delayed, but we decided to push forward and go anyway. Long story short, 15 minutes before we were to leave, we received a call from AGCI saying that all of our appointments in China had been cancelled for unknown reasons. They had not yet been able to reschedule anything, and AGCI did not recommend we fly "blind" with no appointments and not knowing when we could leave China.

Since four out of our six tickets were purchased with frequent flyer miles, we learned that it would cost us up to $15,000 to reticket the trip. We could go ahead and leave, just changing our departure date for less than $1,000. After a frantic afternoon, we decided to go ahead and chance it.

We are now here, but do not know when we will be able to return home. Hopefully we will receive our appointments in the next day or two so we can know what to expect.

The trip was certainly an adventure. We arrived at Port Columbus Thursday morning at the prescribed 2 hours before departure, only to discover the counter did not open until 4:45 am. Love to hurry up and wait. Our first plane was a small commuter jet. We had to cross the tarmac to board. We watched the sun rise over Washington DC.

The second flight was from DC to San Francisco. The kids did great. They got to watch Cars as the in flight movie. They also watched Robots on a portable DVD player while we watched The Lakehouse as the in flight movie.

In San Francisco, we ran to the International Terminal so that we would have time to call AGCI for any updates before we boarded. Tiffany told us that we would not be receiving Elijah ZuBin until November 8. We still do not have all of our appointments scheduled, so we still do not know when we can return. We are praying for the possibility of 11/16, but if that is not available, it will not be until 11/20 or 21. That is for the appointment, not the return date. We would return a day or two after the Exit appointment. We are totally trusting God on this.

The flight from SF to Hong Kong was, well, let's just say I had no idea 14 hours was so long. We had gotten the kids up at 3:30 am Thursday morning to leave. They did not settle into sleep until almost midnight Ohio time. They did great, but they are exhausted. It is rough sleeping on a plane! They showed 4 in-flight movies on that leg!

We are now at the hotel in Hong Kong. Greg went to bed. The rest of us went to get a bite to eat before tucking the kids in. They are all in bed now, but I wanted to be sure to update you all on our adventures!

We will have access to emails, so feel free to email us while we are gone! Please also keep praying that God will be working through all the details to His Glory.
Thank you all. We can feel your prayers supporting us.

Travel Plans

We have our travel plans now and are working out the details for what we want to do and see during our free time.

We are going to drive to Columbus on 10/25 to stay at the Marriott Courtyard by the airport. Our flight leaves at 6:14 am, Thurday morning. We fly to Dulles Airport in Washington DC, then on to San Francisco. We then fly to Hong Kong, arriving at 6:00 pm Friday evening. We will be in Hong Kong Friday night at Saturday night, getting to explore the city a little.

On Sunday 10/29, we will take the high speed train to Guangzhou where we will be met by a guide from All God's Children. We are staying at the Phoenix City Hotel in Guangzhou. http://www.guangzhouhotel.com/phoenixcity.htm

We will actually get custody of Elijah ZuBin on Monday, 10/30. We will be in Guangzhou for the rest of the trip, getting to know our son, finalizing the adoption, and getting his passport and visa. We also hope to visit his orphanage as well as his finding place.

We will return to Hong Kong either Friday 11/10 or Saturday 11/11 to fly home. Our flight leaves Hong Kong at 11:30 am on11/11, lands in Chicago, then finishes in Columbus at 3:30 pm on Saturday 11/11.

The kids are very excited, and we are working on getting the last minute details finished to be ready to go.