My Kid Circus

I am writing this on our last morning in China. I can hardly believe that. Most of our group won’t be leaving until the end of this week, but since our Consulate Appointment was early in the week, we are free to leave tonight. At the beginning of this trip, I felt like we were one of the lucky ones who got to leave early. Now I feel a little bit like we are one of the unlucky ones who have to leave early. We are all sad about the end of our time in China. I sure can’t wait to hug K and D at home though!!!!

Yesterday morning we went to the U.S. Consulate for our appointment. This was the all important appointment that all of our travel had to be planned around. We went with only 2 other families in our group, however there were many other people there at the same time.

We first had to go through security. We were warned that you are not allowed to bring any electronics into the Consulate, so I had left my phone and camera in the hotel room. As they scanned my bag, they insisted that I had some electronics in my bag. I dug through, pulling everything out, until we found the culprit. Hannah’s orange plastic cell phone. They seriously confiscated it!

We then went into a big room where we all had to stand with our right hand up and say an oath together. Then we were called up to a desk one by one to sign some paperwork. And just like that, our appointment was done! We will get Hannah’s visa this afternoon, and will be cleared to take her home!!

After our appointment, I went with our group to the “Pearl Market”. This turned out to be the size of a 6 story shopping mall, with tiny jewelry stores on every inch. Our guides took us to the top floor, to a small store in the back, where they said the owners were reputable and sold good quality pearls. It was really fun to look at the pearls strand by strand. I choose 2 strands that they made into bracelets for each of my girls, and for my future daughter-in-laws, when my kids get married. They all have a beautiful clasp that says “Happiness” and “Long Life” in Chinese.

Z spent the afternoon playing legos with his friend, Ben. I think he had as good of a time as he has had any other day on this trip!

We celebrated our final night in China with a dinner cruise on the river. It was absolutely gorgeous. We loved standing outside and seeing the city from the water. We even saw the second tallest building in the world, which was lit up in a rainbow of colors. Luckily we were told beforehand that the food is terrible, so we ate beforehand. The atmosphere, however, could not have been better. We loved it!

Now we are off to enjoy our final day in China! We leave for the Hong Kong airport tonight at 6:30.

Hannah's "red couch" photo. A tradition for adoptive families in Guangzhou.

We are having such a great time learning about our girl. She makes us laugh so many times every day, and our hearts are full at the sight of her smile and the funny things that she does.

This is one of her tricks that we are loving.  She started mimicking Jeff lifting his eyebrows.  (Sorry if you already saw the video.  We are having some technical troubles, so we are posting it again.  :) )

Yesterday afternoon we took our flight from Zhengzhou to Guangzhou, which is in the southern part of China.

This morning, we had to take all of the children for medical exams.

These exams are a formality, and by no means were they thorough. For most people, it was a cursory look over and then some signatures. We waited in a very long, hot line for a while, and then it was our turn. It was a very small space, so Jeff waited with Z in the waiting room. They read over some of Hannah’s medical reports and then tried to listen to her heart. At first there was a doctor and a nurse. They both attempted to listen to her chest, while she screamed. Then they called in another doctor who tried to listen to her. They then all had a conversation, and seemed to come to some agreement. Then they said, “come with us please”.

Let me tell you, I was terrified. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but it appeared that her heart did not sound like they thought it should. I called for Jeff, and they led us to another room where there were another 3 doctors. Hannah now had at least 4 people trying to listen to her chest while they quickly talked among each other.

I was shaking by that point. It was horrible not knowing what they were saying about my baby. And let there be no mistake; she is absolutely, totally, and fully my daughter. The fear that was in me today was the fear of a mother. No question.

Finally they told me that they could still hear a heart murmur. They asked about her eating and activity level, which are both great, and then said that she seems good, but to have her followed up by a cardiologist at home. (That was our plan anyway). It was a bit of a wake up call. We are assuming everything went well with Hannah’s heart repair, but we won’t know that until we get home. Our friend who is fluent in Chinese was later able to tell us that most likely they just kept calling people over to hear Hannah’s heart because they don’t see many children who have had Tetralogy of Fallot, and they were curious. Arg.

The rest of our day was wonderful. We explored Shamian Island, which is very similar to Savannah, GA. There are big trees, cobblestone streets, and fun shops. We had a great time exploring together as a family.

I am even becoming pretty good at haggling (not something I like to do!!).  I carry around my little calculator so I am prepared to negotiate.  One woman said, “Wow, you are tough.  How long have you been here??”.  Ha!

If anyone is coming to Guangzhou any time soon, please visit Jordan’s. Jordan is such a wonderfully kind shop owner, who we had a great time talking to. While we were in there, I even met 2 people that are part of the online community that I have loved during my wait to come to China. She recognized me from my blog. That was so fun! Hello Rumor Queen friends!!

We are just absolutely loving our time in China.  It is hard to believe that we only have 3 more days!

Yesterday we took a day trip that will forever be imprinted on my heart. We went in a van on a 3 hour trip with 2 other families to PuYang City Social Welfare Institute.  This is the orphanage that Hannah was in for the first 2 months after she was found, and was also in for the past 2 months.  The day we met Hannah, we found out that she had been moved from the Lily Orphan Care Center that she had been in in LuoHe, and back to PuYang to prepare for her adoption.

We were greeted with a very warm welcome from the orphanage director, and many of the women who work in the orphanage.  They were taking pictures of us, and seemed genuinely thrilled to see us.  We found out this was only the 3rd time that families had come back to visit the orphanage.  Hannah seemed fine being back there, but would not let anyone take her out of my arms.  I took that as a good sign that the attachment process is going well.  It was a pretty wonderful feeling to have her choose me.  We chose her a long time ago, but she has only had a few days with me.

They gave us a short tour of the orphanage, but asked us not to take very many pictures. We walked into a big open courtyard that was surrounded on all four sides with a 2 storied building.  There were many doors around the perimeter of each floor, each with plastic hanging pieces instead of doors. They led us to the door of the room that Hannah had been living in.  It was 2 small rooms that were attached, one with 3 metal cribs, and one with 1 metal crib and an adult bed.  They told us that they divided the children into “families”.  There was a “Mama” in Hannah’s house, with the 4 small children.  They referred to the other workers in the orphanage as “ayi”, or “aunt”.  Hannah’s Mama seemed very happy to see her, but laughed when she only wanted to stay with me.  She showed us that Hannah’s bed was the one that was in her room, and when we put Hannah in it, she got a huge smile and began playing for her audience.

The main courtyard

Hannah's "Mama"

Hannah eventually warmed up to her "Mama"

We also saw a small classroom for the older children where they were having class.  This seemed to consist of a group of varying age children who had a handful of toys on a table, that were clearly meant for preschoolers.  They were very happy to see us though, and were excited to sing us several songs.

We then saw a small physical therapy room, where a woman was working with 2 children with some of the equipment.  It was the most colorful and well equipped room that we saw.  This orphanage was obviously a place with very little means, but they clearly loved the kids, and did everything they could for them.

After our tour, the orphanage director treated us to a wonderful lunch in a local restaurant.  Actually, feast was more like it.  There were SO many different kinds of wonderful, authentic, Chinese food.  Some things were easily identified, and some things we had to ask about.  We really enjoyed  some steamed buns with pork and vegetables, roasted chicken, spicy mushrooms and green beans, deep fried sweetened eggplant, and some sort of clear noodles.  We decided to pass on the donkey meat.  It was such a special opportunity to be dining with this wonderful man.  No one at the orphanage spoke any English, so we were so fortunate to have a Chinese speaking father with our group, who was able to translate for all of us.

After lunch, we drove to the “finding spot” for Hannah and our friend’s baby.  It was a really emotional experience to me to be standing where my sweet girl was left by her birth mother on the side of the road.  Many people feel like this part of an adopted child’s story belongs to them, and will not publicly share it.  I absolutely respect and understand that viewpoint, but after some discussion, we have decided that we will tell about this part of our journey.  The first reason is because I know so many people have been supporting us and praying for us for so long, and I think it will give you a more full picture of Hannah.  The other reason is because I am truly hoping that someone out there following my blog will be led down this adoption path too.  I’m hoping that you can see these pictures and imagine a precious child being left there.  I’m hoping that you understand that  Hannah’s story is so far from unique.  It is very much the same as countless thousands of other children.  There are so many children that need homes.  So so many.

Hannah was left when she was about 2 months old.  We weren’t sure the exact spot, but we knew that she was left under a tree at the opening of this small village, which must be down this road.  The dear women from the orphanage did everything that they could to get us all of the information possible, but we will have to be content with the general area.  They were able to tell us that she was left with 2 bottles, a large one and a small one, and a few diapers.  They said that  when she was brought to the orphanage, her mouth and fingers were blueish, which let them know immediately that she had something wrong with her heart.  This very well could be the reason that Hannah’s birth family was not able to keep her.  They most likely did not have the funds to give her the care that she needed.

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She was quite possibly left along this road

Saying goodbye to these wonderful people

It was a truly incredible day.  I feel so fortunate that we will be able to give Hannah even these precious little pieces of her history.

Yesterday we had a touring day.  We drove several hours to Shao Lin Temple.  We walked around the gorgeous temple that housed over a thousand years of Buddhist monks.

We also went to a Kung Fu show.  I think that is sure to be one of the highlights of Z’s trip.  One of the main performers in the show must have been about 6 years old himself.

Z and his friend practicing their Kung Fu moves

Z the Kung Fu Master

Unfortunately, this long, rainy trip will not be a highlight for sweet Hannah.  We got to hear some crying, thats for sure!

Hannah was a movie star too. I sure wish I knew what the little old ladies were trying to tell me. I just did a lot of smile and nodding!

Like most of us, food cheers her right up.

A definite highlight for me, Hannah said, “Mama!”.  Oh, melt my heart.

Today, we are driving several hours to visit her orphanage.  I am very eager to see the place that Hannah spent much of her young life, and get to meet some of the women that obviously gave her great care.  I’m hoping the trip is not too hard on Hannah…

Our big event from yesterday was going back to the Civil Affairs office to make the adoption official. It was a much different mood in the room this time, with everyone happily with their babies, and walking up one by one to receive their certificate. At this point, Hannah is officially ours in the eyes of the Chinese government! Hooray!!

From there, we went to a notary office, where we all had to fill out some paperwork to be notarized which we will have to take with us to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou.

Our afternoon activity was going to the Chinese version of Wal-Mart. This one was called the Lotus Center. It was an interesting experience, for sure! We were able to find the essentials that we needed, but we decided to pass up the chicken legs and intestines.

Zhengzhou is very different from Beijing. In Beijing, most signs had English writing at the bottom, most people spoke with us in English, and the people who were curious about us were extremely friendly. Here in Zhengzhou, it would be very hard to navigate ourselves around the city. We have had to use more hand gestures to communicate, and when we have been out places, we have been met with more outright staring. It is really interesting. We have also witnessed some of the things that we have heard about China, such as lines really don’t mean anything. Yesterday we waited in line for a table at breakfast for quite a while as people pushed and pushed past us. Somehow we still couldn’t bring ourselves to just push ahead also. We are having a great time though. We have loved driving down the roads and seeing a little more of the authentic China than in the big city of Beijing.

We are having a great time getting to know our girl. It is so funny how you can develop expectations on someone’s personality just from pictures. I imagined that Hannah would be really sweet and a bit shy. Ha ha ha, not so much! This girl is pretty outgoing, and wow, she is busy! She also likes to play pretty rough. We are thinking that she is going to be a great match for our D, which is not at all what we expected.

She still seems to be adjusting wonderfully. She is eating well, sleeping well, and playing happily with us.  She even said, “Dada”. We are madly in love.

This is how she likes her bottle. One hand at the end.

Hannah sleeps sucking on her blanket. She is able to stuff a LOT of her blanket in there!

One of the only times Hannah slows down is on the bus. It seems to make her nervous, and she hangs on tightly.

Silly girl

Today is definitely a day that will be remembered forever.  It has been so incredible that words just cannot do it justice.

We started out on the bus for the Civil Affairs office, with 11 other very excited families.  The drive wasn’t long and we were enjoying seeing a little bit of Zhengzhou.

When we arrived, two of the children were already there waiting for us.  I think tears sprang up in all of our eyes as we watched those sweet children join their families.  From that point on, the babies slowly trickled in as they had each traveled from their orphanages, some of them from many hours away.

There were only a handful of families left when the three of us were standing watching outside the door.  Then I  yelled, “That’s her!!!”.  Even from a distance, I knew, because she was wrapped in the blanket that I sent in her care package.

I was able to take her the minute she walked into the door.  It is a moment without words.  We held her, hugged her, kissed her, and thanked God for her.

Really from that first moment, she was in good spirits.  We soon got down on the ground to play with her and learned that one of her favorite games is to run into your arms for a big hug.  It doesn’t get much better than that!

The wonderful ladies from the orphanage who brought Hannah

Hannah looking at the obviously well used photo album that I had sent in her care package!

Wiped out on the drive back to the hotel

Since that time we have just been cherishing every minute.  We have yet to hear her cry, and have already been lucky enough to see her smile and laugh.  She is amazing.  The agonizing wait has disappeared, and was so very worth it.

Yesterday we were up bright and early for our group to head to the airport. Everyone was so excited, talking about traveling to our children’s provinces.

We arrived together at the airport to find out that we were delayed at least 2 hours due to fog. A big group of disappointed travelers, but no problem.

Almost exactly 2 hours later, we happily boarded our plane. We are happily flying when I say to my husband, “I really think we just did a complete turn around in the air. That was one huge circle”. I see the flight attendants being called to the front, and then some announcements come over the overhead speaker. Of course those announcements are in Mandarin, so I have no idea what is going on. A few minutes later we are landing, and eventually it is passed back to us that we are not in fact in Zhengzhou. I’m not even entirely sure where we were, but it was somewhere on the path between Beijing and Zhengzhou.

The plane parks on the side of the airport where we had to climb down a flight of stairs and get on a bus back to the terminal. Most fortunately for us, we have one man in our group who speaks Mandarin. He was able to tell us that we couldn’t go on to Zhengzhou because farmers are burning something in their fields which caused so much smoke that there is not enough visibility to land. He then tells us that we will be in the airport for at least 4 hours. Ahhh!!!!

The weather in Zhengzhou: SMOKE!!

So, we settle in. I am so grateful to be part of a large, fun travel group. We really had a good time all together. Z did great. All the kids played together the entire time, with NO COMPLAINING! It was amazing!

By the time the airport was empty, it was our turn to get back on our plane. We had an incredibly bumpy ride, but thank goodness, it was short. We landed in the airport and got to our hotel about 10 hours past when we were supposed to. A long day of traveling for what should have just been an hour and a half flight!

The best part is that we have moved into full baby preparation mode.  Our guide passed each of us a paper giving us an update about our children.  She then told us that we would be leaving at 9:30 AM to get our children!!!  That is just 2 hours from now!!!

When we got into our hotel room there was a crib in the room.  I had an internal reaction very much the same as when I saw the empty bassinet when I got to the hospital to have our babies.  In such a short time, our baby will be in that bed.  It is really real.  It is today!

Here I am awake at 2 am. This is moving in the wrong direction!!

We had another fantastic and incredible day yesterday. First, we loaded back on the bus and went to a government run jade factory. We learned a little bit about how important jade is in the traditional Chinese culture. George described it as in America, we have a diamond culture, but in China, it is a stone culture. Traditionally, women would wear their jade jewelry all the time so that their bodies would absorb the beneficial minerals from the jade, and the oils from their bodies would improve the quality of their jade. If a woman had a bracelet that had become shiny and translucent over time, that was a sign that she was very healthy and would make a good wife.

Next, we headed to the Great Wall. It was so exciting to get our first glimpses of the mountains, and then our first views of the wall. When we got off of the bus, we could see mountains and sections of the wall in every direction. We had a limited amount of time, so George showed us where our climbing goal was and we began climbing. When Z got a look at the number of steps that he would have to climb, he was ready to turn around and run back to the bus. Luckily, however, he has become fast friends with another little boy his age, and soon climbing up together became great fun.

Our entire adoption group about to tackle The Great Wall!

In places, the stairs are very high, and in other places, the stairs are small and short. We all had a great time ascending the stairs and looking around to see how high we were. In a little less than an hour, we made it to our goal. Unfortunately, the air quality in Beijing is very poor. Everwhere you look is just kind of in a thick haze. Even at the site of the great wall, which was a little more than an hour outside of the city, it absolutely obscured the view of the mountains. Still, it didn’t take away from our experience, and it was easy to see how gorgeous everything would look on a clear day.

From there, we headed to lunch at another Chinese restaurant. This restaurant was very large, and obviously catered to large groups of tourists. Still, the food was quite good and we had a great time.

On our drive back towards the city, we stopped at a the Olympic Park, where we could see the Bird’s Nest and the Cube. We didn’t have time to go inside, but it was fun to see.

We ended the night by attending an acrobatics show. Parts of the show were similar to things we have seen at Cirque de Soleil, but there were some parts that were entirely new. Z was wiped out and slept through the whole thing. I hated that for him, because I think he would have really enjoyed seeing women balance themselves on a pole by their mouths, ten women on a bicycle, and 5 motorcycles in a cage.

Throughout these days of touring, our babies are never far from our minds. It has been wonderful to talk to other adoptive families and hear about their experiences during the wait. Today we will fly to Henan, and we will be so close to our Hannah Min. My stomach is definitely turning in anticipation and excitement. I can’t wait to hold her in my arms!!