Guangzhou

It is soooo nice here! White Swan Hotel is wonderful! It is much more peaceful here and relaxing. That is why I havn't been blogging, I have been shopping! Also yesterday I wasn't feeling well, but better today.
Yesterday we went to a folk art museum. Its was really neat and very different than what we have seen in the other two parts of China we have been in. The first picture is the front of the building. Pictures of course don't do any justice to all the carving and architecture. Then there is a picture of us standing in front of bamboo. And a picture of a huge ship carved from animal bone.
Tonight we went to the same Chinese place we went last night with the whole group, tonight we just went with the family we were with in Wuhan and another couple we have been hanging out with a lot who got twin girls that are soooo adorable! One family lives in Michigan and one in Indiana. We may have to take a road trip!
Today we had our consulate appointment. It went pretty well, just kind of long for the kids to be there, along with the long bus ride there and back. No cameras were allowed, nothing really to take a picture of, but just really neat to stand there with about 20 other American adoptive families and take the oath for your child, pretty cool! Yesterday Caleb did great, no fits. Today he made up for that.
Kind of going out of order in the day...
This afternoon went shopping while Caleb and Rod took a nap. Caleb is still sleeping and eating good. We'll see how that goes when we get home.
Can't believe we just have one day left. Very anxious to get home to our kids and own house, getting tired of the hotel room. But sad to leave China, having a good time here in Guangzhou, and saying good-bye to our new friends.
Its hard to believe it will be almost Easter when we get home. I think it will have a new and different, even deeper meaning for me this year.

Ok, so here is a pictur eof the orphanage and the other two we are at the Yellow Crane tower in Wuhan. It was pretty neat.
Caleb made it through his first lfight, he did great, he just ate the whole time! Then he screamed most of the way to the hotel from the airport, about 45 min.
This morning we had to get him visa pictures and a medical exam, it went well. Then on the way back we stopped at Starbucks, YUM! It is actually a little more exzpensive than in the US.
It is very nice here in Guangzhou. The White Swan hotel is wonderful. We are right next to a river, kind of on an "island". It is much more peaceful and quiet here. Very nice change of pace! Nice areas to walk around in, lots of shops. Can't wait to go shopping!
Its been grea to meet back up with the rest of our group and see everyone's babies. Plus at this hotel there are lots of other adoptive families. So amazing! Each one has a special story.
Off to a meeting now...

Orphanage visit

I was still able to go to the orphanage while Caleb took a nap. We took a taxi, it was crazy! You would think there would be soooo many accidents but I have only seen one the whole time we have been in China, I found out on the way I would be taking a taxi back to the hotel by myself, yikes! Our guide was taking the dad and his tow teenage sons (the family we have been hanging out with)for a boat ride on the Yellow river. It was scary but I survived. Not able to upload a picture right now, will keep trying...
We got a tour from the director, so didn't interact with the kids like I thought we might. But I did get to pass out suckers to one classroom of severely disabled chldren.
The babies crying in a couple of rooms was sad. I wanted to hold them. I was very glad I went. Was neat to see but also sad. The orphanage DESPERATELY needs special nipples for the cleft lip/cleft palate babies. Our son was fortunate to have one, but now they are all out and can't even get them here. So if anyone would like to help in this way I want to try to send a box of them soon after we get back.
We are doing great today so far.

Unconditional love

Another layer of understanding this process for me and him...he started crying as we were getting ready to go down to breakfast, crying uncontrollably. I had to bring him back up to the room. He rolled around on the floor, at times wanting to touch my hand or for me to hold him and then pushing me away, sometimes both at the same time.
But for heave's sake, I'm his 4th mommy! He doesn't know that he is stuck with me forever. That I will never leave him. We found out he had actually been in two foster homes.
I had a bit of my own grieving too. I can't fix this or take it away. I have to walk through it with him. Another picture of God. How we reject Him, turn away from Him, then cling to Him. Yet He is always there, always loves us no matter what. He understands! He had to abandon His own son, so that He could adopt me! Was it a huge sacrifice, was it hard, was it messy? ABSOLUTELY! But was He still in control, was He still right there? OF COURSE!
Please continue to pray for us!
Rod went to a museum with the group and we stayed here. It has been better with 2 bottles and lots of snacks, TV on.
This afternon during his nap I may go to the orphanage. Caleb only spent about 2 weeks there. But I still feel drawn to go, to better understand the plight of the orphan. And even if we come back here, I don't know if I will have another chance. It might do me in, but feel like I want to/need to do it.
Got to talk to our kids. Starting to miss them more. One more week til we go home.

1st 24 hours

Here is the picture of us meeting him.
We have ALL made it through the first 24 hours of having Caleb in our lives. I slept well last night but feel kind of tired. He slept well last night and easily went down for a nap this afternoon. I may join him... I'm still waiting for the "storm" to hit and trying to brace myself. But he is eating well, seems happy and is having fun playing with the toys we brought him.
This morning we had to go back to the adoption center and have a short interview and go over the paperwork I filled out last night. All this paperwork will then be notarized and will be our adoption certificate. So it was pretty much finalized today. Still hard to believe! I thought that he or some of the other kids would have a lot of trouble going back to the place we picked them up yesterday but there were 6 families there today and all the kids did great!
After we finished there we went to a grocery store. We got Caleb a couple of little books in Chinese and they have the english word for the item also, water and of course I had to get a couple of things from the bakery. I chose a couple of different bread to have with our "Ramen noodles" for lunch. The bread were good but very different from American breads or the breads I make. But I had some bread this morning that tasted like banana bread.
It has been raining here today. We may venture out for dinner tonight since we ate at the hotel restaurant last night. Things are pretty cheap here for us, but for them it is expensive. Inflation keeps getting higher and they have a 63% tax rate. I will never complain about ours again!
We are really enjoying getting to know and spending time with the other Bethany family that is here with us. They brought their 2 teenage sons and 3 1/2 year old chinese daughter with them. Their sons are great and have taken pictures for us and are great with all the little kids. Very nice family. They live in MI, I think in Grand Rapids.
Well I think I'm going to reat a little while I have the chance. I'm sure everything is going so well because of all your prayers! Thank you for your love and support!

Last day in Beijing

Today the sun was out, blue sky and windy. The wind blew a lot of the smog away. We went to the Forbidden City, Tiannemin Square and on a tour in the Hutong district where we rode on rickshaws. It was really neat. My favorite thing we have done. We actually got to go into a residents house and he talked to us and we got to ask him questions through a translator. His oldest son is a Kung Fu instructor in Houston.
The Forbidden City is HUGE. We walked and walked. It was pretty crowded. Many of the structures had hand paintings on them and many pieces were covered in gold. It was build in 1420. All the buildings put together there were 9,999 rooms, because 9 was considered the perfect number.
It is also amazing when we are on the bus and just looking at so many interesting things. Tall buildings EVERYWHERE, many of them apartment buildings. The driving here is kind of crazy, its every person for themselves whether you are driving, riding a bike or walking.
This evening we had Peking duck with another couple from our group. No one in the restaurant spoke English, but we figured it out and everything we got was good.
Going to bed early tonight and hopefully get some sleep as we may not get much the rest of the trip. We have to leave the hotel at 5:30 am to catch our flight to Wuhan. There is another Bethany family that got there today. We havn't met them yet as this is their 2nd adoption and they took the Shanghai instead of the Beijing one. We will get Caleb in the afternoon. I'm nervous, excited, scared...and I don't know what else! It still seems so surreal and just unbelieveable. Who am I and what am I doing here? Please pray for us tomorrow! I know God is faithful and He will continue to be with us on this journey. Doesn't mean it will be easy, we are just trying to obey Him...

Ni Hao from China

Woo-hoo I got on here! We started out pretty exhausted on wed. morning as our flight got canceled. So mom had to pick us up and take us back home as our flight would not leave for 5 hours. I tried to sleep a little but didn't really sleep. Then back to the airport to fly to San Francisco instead of Seattle. Then straight to Beijing. The flight was long, Rod slept way more than I did. I only slept probably 1-2 hours total. But I read a lot. Couldn't put down "Choosing to See". Awesome book!
We got to China, minus one piece of luggage. It wasn't anything major, but still wanted to get it if possible. It arrived this morning thank goodness!
Yesterday we ventured out to the local grocery store. We needed to buy bottled water as you can't drink the water here. The store was pretty neat. I tried to post a picture here but it didn't work. Maybe now it did...
Then last night we went to an acrobatic show. It was pretty neat. Then had some great Chinese food at our hotel.
This morning we were up early to go to the Cloisonne factory which are hand made and handpainted items made from copper and the Great Wall. The Great Wall was crowded but very impressive! I tried twice to get a picture on here, but it wouldn't work.
It has been very interesting and neat to be in our son's birth country, just been trying to take it all in...
Tomorrow we go to the Forbidden City, should be very interesting...
Monday afternoon we will get Caleb, its hard to believe its almost here!