Trip to Eme - Day 11

Today was a so/so day. Erin and I are officially cold sufferers. I woke up with a congested head and a cough. Erin's throat is raw and she's super congested too. We finally dragged ourselves out of bed and down to breakfast before they closed the buffet. Still a descent spread though. We saw our other family friends there and got caught up on how everyone was doing. Joe and Xiaohong's little one with chicken pox looked so much better. Eme's stitch sore looked a little angrier this morning so we decided to go to the clinic in the hotel later in the day.

Since we both felt like crud we decided to stay in pretty much for the day. We fed Eme her lunch and we napped.

Grace, our guide got us an appointment at the clinic and we stopped in. They looked at Eme and got us some topical antibiotic and said that she had tonsillitis but I think she's just got a raw throat from the cold and drainage. We are giving her the antibiotics that we brought from the states. Better safe than sorry.

Erin and Eme went upstairs for her bottle and I headed off to collect our laundry and Jack and Eme's names that we had translated into Chinese and nicely painted on sheets of paper. I also got a sandwich for Erin & I to share. So glad to get some clean laundry.

At 3pm we went to the Adoption clinic for a chicken pox vaccine for Eme. If she was just exposed to it, the vaccine will kill it. If she got it before a few days ago, it'll get her over it faster. It was cheap and it will only help. We were told that we'd have to go back Tuesday to make sure Eme didn't have it to get cleared to leave the country. Ross, one of the dad's in our group is an immunologist and said that even if she had been exposed (which I truly doubt she has been), symptoms won't show up until we're home. That's a yay God. But pray that it all works out. I'd hate to have to stay here any longer than necessary. We miss Jack too dang much. Eme took her shot like a CHAMP! She cried while getting the shot but as soon as I picked her up she stopped. I'm so glad that I can comfort her already.

At 4:30pm we met to get all our consulate paperwork in order for tomorrow's agenda. It was pretty easy but for me just a tad nerve wracking as there's always that tiny chance I forgot something. But it was all good. Erin's too good at paperwork to let me forget anything.

Tonight was the night for the Thai restaurant but again, we decided to recoup in the room and hit the hay early. No need in making our colds worse. We ordered pizza and a little pasta to eat and share with Eme. For a kid that's never eaten solid food before she met us, she sure does like it. :)

We've all medicated. Antibiotics for the ladies and cough medicine for me. I'm thinking a NyQuil may be in order as well but we'll see. Continue to pray for what's scheduled today and add that no Pox are found and that we recoup before the long flight home.

Our tomorrow is thus:

We'll go down for an early breakfast, we'll stay in our rooms while Grace does our consulate work so she can reach us by phone if there are any questions, we'll go to the pearl market and shop for a little while, eat, go to the consulate and take the oath and that is it! We leave the next day for Hong Kong then the day after that we leave for HOME!

Here are the latest links to photos. Each one has a different day.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=611265&id=688850050&l=6746cac5af

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=612490&id=688850050&l=320f13b91b

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=613026&id=688850050&l=a5bff890d6

Trip to Eme - Day 10

We flew out of Zhengzhou yesterday leaving the smoke, smog, traffic and stares behind. Now, I don't see it as a negative experience at all. It was just so urban and hard to be there after we got our girl. We just wanted to take her away.

The flight was great. Erin is getting a cold (has one by now) and that's kinda sucko but she's handeling it like a trooper. Eme is doing great and was an angel on the plane. She didn't sleep one peep though. Just so curious and wanting to play with any scrap of paper we could give her.

We got into Guangzhou last night and what a difference. Even at the airport the air was sweeter and warmer. Where we are staying are where all the adoption families from any agency end up. The US consolate used to be here so the whole area is focused on adoptive families with brand new members. They are much more used to seeing Chinese kids with not-so Chinese parents. In Zhengzhou I wore a lanyard with a card that explained that we adopted this child and were not steeling it. People kept staring, doing double takes, and some had the guts to ask why we had the baby. It was amusing most of the time but it can wear on ya.

We slept well in our d-lux hotel room on the 24th floor with a great view. We ordered Papa John's pizza. It was so nice. Thank God that this is where we'll spend the last portion of our trip. It is so nice. It makes it not as depressing to be here while we miss Jack.

So, before we started with the customary breakfast buffet which was really nice, we got to skype with not only Jack and Erin's folks back in Ohio but also my sister Laurie my bro in law Kent and their granddaughter Tori. It was great to see them and have them meet Eme 'face to face'. During breakfast, Erin got to meet up with a family from the last adoption group (who were leaving for home today) that she'd befriended on a message board. How cool is that?

We then went to the local clinic to get Eme checked out. She was a lil trooper though tears were shed. Pray for our friends Joe, Xiaohong as their little one appears to have chicken pox. They were planning on staying in Beijing a while longer thankfully. I'm not sure they'll be able to re-enter the US if she's actively sick with them. But it's scary having a little one sick on unfamiliar territory and having to change travel plans on the fly. Eme didn't have much contact with their little one and even if she did, the symptoms won't appear for a week or two. So we should be fine. Chicken pox shouldn't be a big deal for a little one either.

After the clinic trip, we stopped by the Starbucks. Happy. Drink. 'Nuff said.

We got back to our room to enjoy some lunch I got from a local deli and we're napping / relaxing and hopefully we'll get some laundry done this afternoon and check out the local shops and have supper at a nice place called Rosy's tonight.

Your prayers are making this trip possible and not just bearable, but enjoyable. Eme is doing great and so are Mommy and Daddy. We miss our Jack but every moment get's us closer to seeing him. So, yay for time. We'll enjoy China as long as we're here. Pray for Erin's throat and cough and pray that Eme doesn't catch the pox. We have some paperwork and procedure left too.

You all Rock.

JJ

Trip to Eme - Day 8

A very... day. Eme did so well sleeping through the night. She fussed at about 6am and we started the water boiler (you have to boil the water here to drink it, even the locals) and she fell back asleep before it was done she and I went back to sleep and Erin got up. I woke Eme up at around 7:30 for breakfast and then we all went down to the cafe to get ours.

Again a very nice breakfast buffet. We then went back to our respective rooms. We had a nice long skype call back to home (more on that later) and met up with our other families at 10 for a Wal-Mart run. We needed smaller diapers for Eme and snacks for us. I got Lemon Tea flavor pringles. And you know, they're great! Diet soda is the mythically elusive beast of legend. All I can find is Coke Zero and even that I can only find for $2 / can in our hotel fridge. It was a much better trip to Wally World than last time and we got to try out the Ergo carrier with Eme. She loved it. As a matter of fact she slept against my chest for the bulk of the trip.

We got back to the room, had lunch and Eme played on the bed between Erin and I as we tried to nap. Mostly Eme wiggled and patted at us or just played with her feet. She's so little. She's starting to warm up to Erin though and was less dramatic when Erin tried to love on her. I know I can't do anything about it but the 'fixer' in me wants to know where that comes from. Meh.

We found the 'play room' the hotel has upstairs. It's basically a very small meeting room with those foam floor mats shaped like puzzle pieces. It has a few rubber inflatable toys (imagine a dog with mickey mouse's head... ya creepy) and a ball pit. Not much for Eme to do there so I just tried to keep her up on her feet as she wiggled. Don't know why but that room depressed me a bit.

We met up with some of the others and after some discussion went to a local tea house. A tea house is a place to drink or buy tea leaves and tea equipment. As you may have guessed, it's a big deal here. We decided to put off buying a teapot till later in the trip but did get some local green tea leaves. It's good stuff too. Eme was feeling warm to me so I asked Joe if I could feel his little one's forehead to compare. She felt the same and he happened to have a thermometer in his wallet! This dude is prepared! It was one of those that you just put the little strip on the forehead and the number that is visible is the temp. Eme was completely normal. Woot. She still has congestion / cough but again I think that's normal for a cleft palate. Fluid can just get to the lungs whenever it likes.

The traffic is getting worse here as more and more people come home for the Spring festival. It was SO chaotic trying to cross the street. 100s of cars, 100s of scooter / bikes and 100s of pedestrians. I was just trying to look out for myself and lil Eme while not losing track of Erin. I'm moving to a farm house on top of a mountain when I get back.

We got to our room, ordered room service (which was awesome). Made some regular tea (saving the green), fed Eme and watched an episode of Walking Dead (Zombie series.... braaaaains) and now it's time for bed.

Can I just say that I miss Jack? I really do. It's killing us more today than ever. It's like it's doubled. That's my prayer request tonight. It's getting really hard knowing we can't just up and leave for home. On a good note though (speaking of going home), if Eme holds the course, she should be awesome on the plane. She is just super content to sit on a lap or play with a few toys. If the altitude doesn't cause her inner ear pain (like it does me), I think she'll be great.

We're so lucky to have you all reading, praying and supporting us as we go through all this. It's incredible to read all your messages as you follow us on facebook, spazbro.com and tgibedtime.com. I'm sleepy and I just caught myself going in to "I love you, man" mode so scram kids and let me get some shuteye.

Trip to Eme - Day 8? totally have lost track.

Ok so I posted enough yesterday for the next 3 or so days so the next few days will be lighter. Yesterday it became official that Eme is ours legally. She's always been ours but now China agrees. So... good for them. Doing all the paperwork and pomp and hoop hopping took most of the morning and we were back around 11:30am? Eme had her bottle with us at Mamma Mia the italian joint. I've not given up on eating the local nom's but the days are getting longer and any comfort I can get, I'll take.

Eme has started to react to Erin less than pleasantly. She cries when Erin comes near or when I give Eme to her. She's bonded quite strongly to me but I believe it's a girl / guy thing. She likes Joe and reaches to him but gets upset when I get near Rita our guide. Erin and I both knew that the odds were very, very good that she'd bond to one and be wary of the other but knowing and feeling are always different things. No shock there. I know things will work out just fine in days or weeks but it's no fun for Erin to be the 'TearMaker" and those of you who know me well know that there are times I just want to get out of the room to get away or run an errand (Erin is NOT a fan of the local Wal-Mart's chaos). So, add that to your prayer list. God's given us what we need to handle it but its not fun.

The second half of the day was Eme and I in the room playing with hair bows, stacking cups and whatever else we could find. She is one cute but wobbly baby. She has a lot of catching up to do developmentally (which is great cuz we'll get a lot of milestones woot). But I'm constantly surprised by this. We had tons of fun. Erin went with Valerie to the local hospital as Valerie needed an unforeseen renewal on a prescription. One of the reasons I love Erin. Just up and offered w/o a thought. Took them quite a while and she got back as I was about to start climbing the walls being worried. They were with Rita so I know they'd be find but that's just me.

Supper was a little chaos in deciding where we'd all go. Erin and I can never decide and frankly nothing sounded good to me as I was getting super tired being with Eme all day. I'm a wuss as a parent. Totally. We ended up going to the hotel next door to their noodle restaurant. Not bad again but I hardly touched my 8 gallon bowl of noodles. After I got it my stomach said meh. Eme was great at the table. She even let Erin hold her for a while.

We got back and Joe came down as we fed Eme her night night nom nom bottle around 8pm. He was trying to use the VPN i setup for us before we left. No luck for some reason. We'll keep trying.

We all slept much better. Eme is still sleeping. I think her diaper is about to burst so I'm gonna get off here and remedy that and get her a bottle. Today is a free day. I'm hoping for a Wal-mart trip (Eme needs smaller diapers and I need diet coke equally as bad). I'm also hoping to find some green tea powder to make green tea frappachinos! HAPPY DRINK!

Trip to Eme - Gotcha Day!

I'm one bleary-eyed son-ov-a-gun. I'll start with the statement of WE GOT OUR EME! But then let me back up.

We woke up and got downstairs at 8:30am for breakfast with 2 other families. Joe and Xiaohong (now spelled correctly I think. Pronounced Shou-Hong) and David and Valerie. We were all full of nervous energy as we'd see our little girls for the first time. We enjoyed the breakfast buffet and I especially enjoyed many cups of breakfast tea. Good ole english breakfast tea. Sue me. I can't be brave every day and eat new stuff.

We loaded up onto our charter bus and headed to the registration office about 15 minutes away. I collected everyone's cameras as I wanted Erin and I to film and photo as much as possible so the families could just enjoy their little ones. We entered a large, not very warm room and each family was pacing around, looking out the windows as the individual orphanages would be bringing their baby any moment.

Joe and Xiaohong got their little one first. I filmed and welled up of course (i'm such a wuss, heh). I mean, what a sight. Those of you with kids, imagine seeing your child for the first time when they're 1 or 2. Especially after waiting so long. ugh... Their little one cried a bit but was soon calm and playing and it seemed to go so very well.

Ross and Ann's little one was next. She was a little chunk! We of course took lots of video and pics and i tried to spend some good time filming and shooting their other adopted girl who is now 3 so she'd still feel special. Not sure she noticed, ha!

David and Valerie's little girl was the last to come. They were going crazy waiting, and then she was there. She was a bit older, closer to 2 years old. They swooped her up and loved on her like there was no tomorrow. Their little one ate it up and was as happy as could be (with bouts of crying too, as they all had).

Another thing that struck me, though it wasn't unexpected, was the emotions of the orphanage workers and caregivers. They truly loved these kids. I was so happy and heart-warmed to see that. I hit me very hard. I took the time to thank God for them and asked Him to bless them big, big. You have to have a big heart, I think to do what they do and them for them to be happy to see a child placed. Incredible.

Well it seemed to Erin and I that it was taking forever (of course, ha!). But we all packed up (I got to help one of the couples through their first diaper change! Whodathunk that I'd know more on that subject than ANYone?). And we got into the bus and headed back to the hotel. Erin and I were told on the way that Eme would be there in 40 minutes and we had time to move to a bigger hotel room that was ready for us.

We did so quickly with the help of the great hotel staff and were pacing outside the elevator doors watching for the numbers to go from 1 to 4. All the other families joined us with their and my camera in one hand and their babies in the other. It felt like a press event and you all know how much Erin and I love being in front of the camera. As we stared at the numbers Eme and her caregivers came around the corner from another direction.

The first thing i noticed was here eyes looking everywhere. Then I saw that her lip had been repaired! We didn't think that had been done at all but there it was, one brand new upper lip! My jaw on the floor at that point, they handed her to Erin. No crying, no fussing, Eme just went. She was so bundled up in 1800 layers of thick stuff that it was like holding a carnival prize. But get this, in China the babies wear split pants. Basically pants that are split down the middle so the kids can squat and pee or whatever. Now-a-days they wear diapers and split pants. Not sure how that works but it is how it is. Her cheeks were red from the cold. All 4 of her cheeks. :)

My emotions were  slightly in check as the cameras (all 5 or so of them) were pointed at us but it certainly didn't diminish the experience as it was a group thing and a family thing all at the same time. I hope the pictures and this journal help to include you all too.

Erin and I eventually took Eme to our room and shooed everyone off to theirs and swapped out Eme's clothes and played and tried our first bottle which she didn't like much (barely an ounce). Chalk that up to a new brand and so much going on. We orded pizza from the hotel restaurant (which I thought was awesome, and again no judging). and we took turns trying to feed her drop by drop.

We then had to meet with Rita and the others to fill out some paperwork (yup it never stops) and then back to the room. But then we got a call from Rita to meet her in the lobby to go to the photomat to get pics taken. I had forgotten that the other couples had theirs done at the registration office but we had to do it this way. We bundled Eme in her pink bear suit (so. dang. cute) and were off. Didn't know it was 7 or 8 blocks one way and 2 the next. Eme and I had some great bonding time as I held her the whole way. I had stern daddy face to any car that tried to get in our pedestrian way. Don't mess with a daddy who's carrying his pink bear. What i thought was going to be a 15 min deal was really an hour. Eme didn't mind tho.

Back to the hotel again we tried another bottle which she did much better on. 4 ounces, woot! then we went downstairs to meet the others for supper. Erin got the caesar salad which turned out to be a chef salad with caesar dressing. She enjoyed it. I got (please .... no judging again....) a cheeseburger, fries and a pot of breakfast tea. I was thrilled. Eme shared her puffs with Joe and Xiaohong's little one and in return got some of Joe's rice porridge which she loved. First 'solid' food y'all. It's a small one but a milestone nonetheless. She was perfect at the table. So content.

Erin took her up to the room while I finished my tea with the others. I joined her and we bathed her which went pretty well. She cried the hardest we had seen her cry while we dressed her. She's not a fan of being naked baby. She was fine after her pjs were on. One more bottle 2 or 3 ounces at most but that's ok because she at a bit of porridge and then we prayed and put her down. Her crib is on my side of the bed so she stared at me while we got ready and laid down for the night at around 8pm.

I fell asleep quickly. She's very quiet except for her coughing. I'm attributing it to her palate issue and she probably has a lot of congestion. If it get's worse we have some antibiotics, but we'll cross that bridge, etc etc etc. The tea's caffeine woke me up around 1:00am ish and here I am blogging. That's still 5 hours for me and not bad. I'll nap when she does today to make up the difference. I'm liking the quiet time and it's good for me.

My friend John Z. just messaged me on facebook and we've been chatting. He and his wife started this adoption journey with us years ago and it was so great to have a chance to talk to him today. Can't wait to see them when we return home. We both have great families and are extra blessed to have a great 'extended' family in Lima to go home to.

So now we just have a few appointments, paperwork, and more appointments, a few flights, some sightseeing, lots of bottles, diapers, baths and skype calls before we're home. The number of pics yesterday took a dive I know. Most of the pics I took were of others that I don't want to post and today I think we'll do some swapping so I can post more of the actual gotcha moments. I'll try to take lots of pics of Eme today but you'll understand if I put the camera down just to squeeze her, right? You would squeeze here if you were here too. She's squeezy.

Please keep on the prayer schedule in my blog from several days ago. There's lots of hoops and hurdles left. I'm sure Jack is being great but Erin's folks are surely tired by now. I would be, he's a handful in ANY situation! And the first 24 hours were great with Eme, day 2 could hold anything. I'm not expecting anything but your prayers and God's provision have seen us this far and surely will see us home.

Trip to Eme - Day 4

Here's the LINK TO THE PICTURES.

We got up nice and early this morning to pack up for our flight to Eme's home province, Zhengzhou (zeng zsh ow). We packed and brought out stuff down to the main desk and left it there and ate with David and Valerie for the last time in Beijing. I'll miss that buffet. We then met Forrest and our 3rd couple, Joe and Shouhong. They are from Columbus and are adopting a girl with cleft lip and palate just like us!!! HOW COOL IS THAT? Their daughter is about the same age as Eme too! And get this, Shouhong (I'm spelling that wrong I'm sure. I'm going to ask her to spell it for me later) is from Beijing and speaks both languages beautifully. It has proven to be a HUGE relief many times today. Joe comes from a software engineering background so that's very cool for me.

Well we were off for one last time in the Smokeymobile to the airport. It was a surprisingly short trip as the traffic was very very light. Forrest bustled us to the counter and got us semi-checked in and was off. I was sad to see him go. But we all have his email address which I look forward to using when I get home.

Checking into the flight and going through security was just a little nerve wracking but not awful. Our bags were just the right weight! woot!

So we got on the flight but not without some good chat time beforehand at the gate. We got to know the new couple a bit and they are so very cool. It's going to be great having another couple going through all the same things we are so close. Eme having someone her age from her home province 90 min away is such a God thing. I am amazed that every step of this trip is just full of provision.

The flight took off and unfortunately the flight, lack of normal sleep, and smog/cigarette smoke is getting to Erin today. When we landed, the Zhengzhou airport was literally cloudy inside between the cigarette smoke and outside fumes from the runway. My throat is raw. Pray for her.

Well we then met our 4th family. Ross, Ann and their 3 kids. Two teen boys and Lizzie their little girl they adopted from china a few years ago. Again, an awesome family. Lizzie was a cleft lip/palate baby as well so they've been through it so we'll pump them for info too.

All of us met our guide Rita and were off to the hotel to check in, get a quick lunch (awesome by the way), then off to the bank for some quick money exchanging and then to ... Wal-mart.

On the way to the hotel we got a sheet of common questions that Rita gave Eme's orphanage to answer. We found out what, how and when she eats, how she plays, and a few more bits of information. Never enough but some is great. She's a quiet girl who keeps herself occupied. She is crawling but not standing on her own. She is still only on formula. I'm freaking psyched to get her.

If you think Wal-mart in the US is chaotic, you've seen nothing. You enter and get on a people mover (moving ramp) that goes up into the store. The carts have magnetic wheels that lock it to the ramp as you go up and down. The place is packed. So. Dang. Packed.

We bought some necessities and several of us bought a cheap stroller. I'm sure it looked odd, us all waking back to the hotel with empty strollers.

Now we're in our room, relaxing and unpacking into the room. Our crib just arrived for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we'll go with the other 3 couples and Rita in our bus (big ole' bus btw) to the registration office where I'll film reactions and then we'll come back to the hotel and Eme should meet us there! Her orphanage is too far away so they bring her to us. So there's no chance of us seeing her orphanage which I have mixed feelings about.

Tomorrow is the big day. I can't wait. I know it's not going to be easy. She's going to cry... alot. Pray for all of us. But I still can't wait to hold my little girl.

Trip to Eme - Day 3

Slept better last night. I was dead tired at 10pm after the Kungfu show, which was very impressive.

I woke up around 3:30 but was able to get back to sleep pretty much until 6:30am, got ready and went down to meet David and Valerie for another great breakfast. Then we went back up to the room for skype time with Jack. He's doing fine but as always, is a handful. Keep praying for Erin's folks. He's being good but he is a 2.5 year old boy heh. Jack sang and jabbered for us and I think he's glad to see us. He was asking "Where you being?". Oh so cute. He said he wanted to be here too. Little heartbreaker.

We met Forrest and hopped into the van for the Jade Market. I think the van driver does all his smoking in the van. I think I may have lost a year or two of my life from my time in that van. --cough--

Jade is beautiful. There are two kinds. Soft and hard. Soft is easy to carve and the hard is much more valuable. Class over. We bought some small things we thought were cool and got a jade name stamp of Eme's chinese name Mei (will be here middle name). It's beautiful.

Then we went to the great wall. Nothing I type does it justice. See the pics. Posted HERE. I didn't make it as far as Erin did but I got far enough up to get a great view. It's amazing.

Then we went to the Cloisonne factory / outlet. It was neat but the sales staff was a little pushy and copper pottery isn't all that to me... so meh. I spent the bulk of the time talking with Forrest talking about everything from pets to tvs. On the subject of Forrest, I had a dream as i was off and on snoozing that we'd be sharing about our beliefs with him today. And wouldn't ya know it... we did. He was talking about how there are so many beliefs and different Gods but he cannot choose. Erin and I (and the the other couple) got to share that the reason he wan't to know is that God has designed us to be in relation to him. We have a spiritual need. It is why people seek the spiritual. I got to give him the basics of my faith (created to be in relationship, fall, sin=self centeredness, sin=death, Christ taking our penalty because God still wanted us, loved us). There were a lot of other, more vague things, talked about but I am hoping and praying that something struck home. He asked why would you start your belief in God. I said that I've seen God work in my life and the real reason I found God is that I saw Him in other's lives. He got that. I was a little psyched. It's been a long time since I've gotten to explain those basics to someone with NO background. It's easy to pick up the foreign missions bug. Easy there, God. Seriously though, pray for Forrest. We told him that God is working on him whether he (Forrest) believes or not. Heh.

We ate lunch at the Cloisonne (copper enameled pot) place. It was good but not as good as the day before.

We then headed back to the hotel and are relaxing before meeting Dave and Valerie for suppah and deciding if we're gonna go out tonight. Everything would be a cab ride away and I'm not entirely sure I'm up for going out w/o a guide though I would love to hit a huge electronics store to see what freaky gizmos the Chinese have come up with.

We have to get re-packed for our flight in the morning. We are meeting Forrest in the morning at 7:30 am to head to the airport for us to go to Eme's province Henan (Huh nan)!! I'm excited but a little nervous about doing Chinese domestic flying.

Catch ya later y'all! Next time we talk we'll be in Eme's province!

Trip to Eme - Day 2

First, here's a facebook like to photos from this morning through about 4pm. Make sure you view the photos individually so you can read the commentary. My brain is tired so I bet they'll be ... interesting.
CLICK HERE

Last night we went to bed around 6pm. I tried to stay up later but failed. We both woke up around 12:30 am local time but snoozed off and on until 5am ish and just decided to stay up. Erin went running at the workout room. I showered and went to the hotel front desk for a few questions / things we needed.

We had a great breakfast at a hotel restaurant that is included with our stay. Really good buffet. We went back to our room to video-skype with Jack and Erin's folks. Thank God that skype worked. It's going to make being away from Jack bearable. He's doing great and loving the time with Nanny and Pawpaw. He actually stayed in front of the computer and sang and talked and it was so good to see him. Yay technology and especially VPNs.

We then met our guide Forrest (yes named after Gump) who had our cell phone that we wanted for emergencies while in China. Then we were off in our little white van to Tiananmen Square. I won't list everything we saw (I kinda did that on the facebook photo page) but needless to say it was FREEZING. I've not been outside in cold like that for a long time. It's one big flat cobblestone space. The wind whipping through there made it crazy cold.

We went from there to the FORBIDDEN CITY or the Emperor's palace. Now all museum, it's dang impressive. It's been rebuilt twice due to fires but it is amazing. When the people think you're the son of the gods, you get a nice house apparently.

From there we did what has been my favorite thing so far. We ate with a local family and had some typical food. It was great to talk and eat and see how a typical Beijing family lives. They had a coy pond built into the floor with plexiglass over it so you could walk on it. They say it's to help with the Feng shwai (no idea on spelling). But we got to meet and hang out with locals. Loved it. We then saw one of the few homes that is close to original architecture. It was like a walled in mini-palace. I could seriously enjoy it.

We went into the silk museum next and it was cool to see how a little silk worm could produce such amazingly useful thing. We got Jack and Eme some silk P.J.s as they weren't too expensive. Jack's has dragons on it so he'll love it.

One unique thing that happened today was that while David, Valerie and Erin were in the restroom, Forrest and I had a chance to talk a little. He asked me why we were adopting. I told him that we'd always thought about it and how we came to decide on adopting a little girl. I then said, how special I'd hope she'd feel when she realized that we chose her and came all the way across the world just for her. That we wanted her to be in our family. I'm hoping to have more talks like that with Forrest. Who knows how that could go. A seed is a seed.

So now we've gotten back to the hotel and it's 4:3o. I'm gonna take a nap. We're meeting Forrest and the others for dinner and a Kung Fu show! On our itinerary it said Acrobatic show wich apparently, Forrest felt was lame so we're the first group he's bringing to the Kung Fu show. I'm excited and tired. But what an awesome day so far. We're just trying to enjoy the time before we get Eme as we know it'll totally consume us and take every bit of energy we have. This day or two of touring is really important or we'd be climbing the walls. I just CANNOT wait to hold her.

Thanks for praying. I can really see God doing stuff and taking care of things.

I'll add more later tonight after we get back.

Beijing - Day 1

We arrived around 2:30pm into the airport but it took quite a while to get to the hotel. We had to walk quite a bit with our heavy carry-ons (wah right?). Then wait in line for an official to give our passports the evil eye to make sure we were those people. What we were very surprised about was the lack of customs procedure. I think it'll be tougher when we go back into the US. So then we had to take a tram to baggage claim. After my normal panic at not seeing our bags, they came around the corner and looked intact (woot).

We met our guide, Forrest who promptly shuffled us into a van (I've heard bad mafia stories about that sorta thing), that took us to our hotel. Now, let me just say, the Chinese people have no personal space issues. they cram into everything and traffic is no different. Erin was dozing off and on in the van and I was alone in my observation of about 132 'HOLY CRAP you almost hit that guy' moments. But that's apparently the way it is and we arrived safely.

We got into our room and, while compact (no wasted space at ALL) it is super comfortable. We'll be here for 2 more nights as we tour and get to know the other families. I'm surprisingly excited (not always jived for hanging out with strangers at first) to meet them and share this experience. It's the video guy in me but I want to film them seeing their kids for the first time to capture that initial reaction.

It's about 6:30am here and I'm showered and getting ready to go downstairs to see why our keycards no longer work and to see about getting Erin a blowdryer. Then breakfast, then skype with Jack and off to see the sights.

thanks for your prayers

JJ

Waiting for a flight

I'm sitting in Newark at the airport waiting to board a boing 777 for our 13.75 hour flight to Beijing. I'm nervous, i had too much caffeine, and I want to get moving! I haven't been on an international flight since 1989. I'm really hoping for a non-eventful flight with a comfy seats as my butt is going to be in it for some time.

Paperwork???

When we first got our travel approval (TA) we had a list of documents to check off and make sure we took with us. Any of these documents, if left behind, could really screw up our adoption process or the procedure of getting out of China with Eme.

So, needless to day, I was freaking but after going through the list we found we had everything. Phew right?
Well we got our detailed itinerary and along with it came a LONGER list of documents. Why they didn't send that list first, I have no idea. So tonight I again slogged through our stacks of paper just dreading that one document that would be missing. But thank God, we had everything we needed.

Thank you all for your prayers as we have less than a week to go before we take off for China. I'm trying to make sure my tech team is ready to take on the extra load (which my only fear is that they'll realize how little I add to the team heh). They know their stuff and I'm not stressing it.

Erin is trying to get through a mountain of a workload before we go. Continue to pray for her as she has too much on her plate and her plate is huge to boot. If you've ever taken a Strengthfinder test you may remember the Responsibility strength which means she feels that she personally needs to do everything and do it well. It's hard for her to walk away from the work.

Your prayer here would be appreciated.

Less than a freaking week, people!

It's finally time!

So many of you have been praying for years for us and Eme (even before she was born). We are incredibly thankful for all of you. Can I just say that we're so freaking excited to finally be going to get our baby girl!?! Below is our itinerary and  how you can be praying specifically for us, Eme, Jack and Erin's parents who are coming to stay with Jack.

1/19     Leave U.S. for Beijing.
Pray for good weather, that our flight isn’t overbooked, that we can rest on the flights

1/20     Arrive in Beijing
We meet our Beijing guide Forest
Free time.
Pray for Jack and Erin’s folks, that they have a great time!

1/21     Tour Beijing. Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Hutong Tour, and optional acrobatics show
Pray for our nerves and that we connect well with the other 3 couples as that’ll make the trip so much better.

1/22     Tour Beijing.  Great Wall and Ming Tombs
Pray for Jack and Erin’s folks

1/23     Depart Beijing for Zhengzhou
Pray for safe flight, that all arrangements are solid, no overbooking, etc.

1/24     Take a bus to the registration office to receive your child this afternoon!
Pray for Eme and us as we hold each other for the very first time. Pray for us as we have NO idea what to expect or how she’ll react.

1/25     You will take a bus to the registration office to finalize adoption!
Pray for all paperwork to be perfect and in order and that Eme slept well.

1/26     Free time or rest.
Pray for Jack and Erin’s folks.

1/27     Free time or rest.
Receive your notary documents in the afternoon. Pray for correctly filled out paperwork throughout the next few days

1/28     Receive your passports in the morning.
Leave Zhengzhou for Guangzhou
Go to the White Swan Hotel
Pray for safe travel, that our passports get back to us, and that Eme’s doing well.

1/29     Have your child’s visa physical and visa photo taken this morning.
Pray that Eme is healthy enough so there won’t be any complications getting her out of the country. Pray for Jack and Erin’s folks.

1/30     Meet with CCAI representatives to prepare paperwork for the Consulate appointment:
Pray for us as we’ll be missing Jack

1/31     Today is your Consulate appointment.
Pray for us as this appointment has me nervous for some reason. Pray that all paperwork information matches and that it’s all in order.

2/1       A CCAI representative will go to the U.S. Consulate to receive your child’s visa packet
Prepare to leave for home.
Leave Guangzhou for Hong Kong
Pray for us as we get ready to come home. Pray that our luggage defies the laws of physics and is lighter than when we started. Pray for our relationships with the other families. Pray for Jack.

2/2       Leave China for the U.S.
WELCOME HOME!
Pray for our health as we’ll be tired, planes are full of germs. Pray for safe travel and  no overbooked flights. We’ll be at the end of our emotional / physical ropes so any delays at this point will be killers. Pray for a safe drive home from Columbus.

Please don't stop praying even after we get home! The trip is over but the adventure has JUST begun! (wow that's corny but you get the picture).