September 10, 2007 GOTCHA DAY!!

Well the day is not over but I just had to write...
Things are going unbelieveably well!!!!!
We got up this morning and went to breakfast and while we were in the restaurant Jacky called and said that Esther was delayed an hour, we would meet in the lobby at 9:40 instead of 8:40 to go to Civil Affairs Office.
We arrived at Civil Affairs about 10:00 and we went up to the third floor. There was a large waiting room with several families waiting for their babies. We were one of two families waiting for older children. The other family is Wendy and Kent from Ohio, adopting a five year old little girl. We met them at breakfast this morning.
The moment we have been waiting for came shortly after 10:00 ... in she walked...There was quite alot of crying from the little babies so it was very noisy in the room... she looked a little nervous... but not for long. She came over to us and we hugged and said hello. A few minutes later she kissed me on the cheek all on her own! I was somewhat surprised but thrilled beyond belief... my first kiss! She then kissed Ba Ba and Jie Jie.
The assistant director of the SWI gave us some of Esther's school books she has been working on. We were then presented with a very large scroll; an older boy in Esther's orphanage hand wrote a very famous poem on it for us. We will have to have it translated. They told us he and Esther are very close... he probably is going to miss her very much. We gave her gifts to her... a doll and a teddy bear... she loved them.
We went back to the hotel and Jacky went up to our room with us. We showed her her clothing and she wanted to put on a new dress of hers... she picked a white dress with pink flowers. The sandals I brought fit her but not with much room to grow. We went to lunch at K.F.C. Jacky was surprised at how much she ate. Jie Jie and Esther played at the inside play area.
Then we went to a department store and did a little shopping. She had never been to a large department store before. We let her push the cart around but after running into a couple people including Jacky and almost knocking over displays, we took over the steering. We took her to the toy department which consisted of only about 30 feet of toys, unlike our stores which would have aisle after aisle. We let her pick out a toy and she chose a Kelly doll with a bed. The doll gets the chicken pox with cold water and then gets better with warm water. (I hope that is not a sign of things to come). Then we let her pick out a nail polish color which took her a while to decide... Baba said, "well she is a girl..." She chose pink to match her dress. We caught a taxi back to the hotel and said good-bye to Jacky until tomorrow.
This evening we took a walk down the streets. We were looking for wrapping paper for the gifts that we brought for the officials we will see tomorrow during our adoption process. We found some at a flower shop... mission accomplished :)
We walked back to our hotel and stopped in the playroom down the hall from our room and we all played ball. Then we took Esther to see the pool, she is very excited about that. We called the Z family and their adoption of Gabriel i sgoing well also...we can't wait for the kids to meet! We had dinner here in the hotel again tonight but this time a table for four please! Esther eats everything, no problem there. Her favorite food is apples and watermelon so we ordered a plate of watermelon just for her for dessert. I think she was full but when that watermelon showed up her eyes lite up and she found room.
The girls just finished bathing and big sister is showing her the ropes. They look so cute in their jammies... night... night...

Sunday, September 9, 2007 **My Birthday!**

I GET THE BEST PRESENT EVER, A NEW DAUGHTER!!!!

We will meet Esther tomorrow morning at 9:00 am which is actually Sunday, Sept. 9th at 6:00 pm at home, my birthday. I can't think of a better birthday present.

We had a real laid back day today. We slept in and about 10 am we went down to the restaurant for breakfast. Our aim for the day was to find somewhere to have our laundry done. We stepped outside of our hotel and the doorman Jordan saw our bag of laundry and asked if we needed help. He so kindly directed us to a side street and tried to explain how to find the place (it is someone's home on the second floor of an apartment). He said, you will not be able to find it, it is so tiny. He offered to take it when his shift ended. I told him we would give it a try with his directions and if we couldn't find it we would let him take it. Right then my phone rang it was the H's... they began to sing happy birthday to me and Jordan heard this... he said, "It is your birthday?" I said yes. He said, "Wait here a moment". Jordan came back with a pink long stem rose for me. I was so touched. Then he said he got permission from his boss to go with us and show us where the laundry was. We grabbed a taxi because it was raining and we went right to it. He was correct... I would not have found it. It was very kind of Jordan to take such good care of us.
We went back to the hotel and I went to the Beauty Salon. I decided to give my self a birthday present and be queen for a day. I started with a foot massage, it was excellent... then a back rub... and then I had my hair washed and curled so it would be pretty when I meet Esther tomorrow. All of this for 164 RMB which about $25 for 4 hours of pampering... I love China!
I had a surprise while I was having my foot massage... there was aknock on the door and there was DH and our little one with Jordan! Jordan had somehow gotten a birthday cake for me and brought it to the Beauty Salon! What a surprise! Then everyone in the Beauty Salon knew it was my birthday so later as my hair was being washed they played Happy Birthday over the stereo system... I felt so special. They were all very sweet.
I went back to our room with my curly hair and we went out to dinner.

Just counting the hours at this point... not the days until we see Esther!

Saturday, September 8, 2007 Travel Day, Wuhan to Changsha...

The plan today was to surprise our daughter with her first train trip... she has been wanting to travel by train for a very long time. We got up, packed our bags and had breakfast with the H's for the last time for about a week until we join up again on our journey. We were finished with breakfast and ready to leave with the driver and hotel staff person David. No one came to get us so I went to ask when we should leave for the train station. The bell boy said he would call David and ask. His answer was 10:15. I said, "Really?, our train is at 10:50, is the station close by?" Yes, it is close by, and so we began to chat together. They like to practice their English sometimes so I was talking with the bell boy. David joined us in conversation. At about 10:15 he said we need to go, so we said good bye to the H's and got in the van.
I don't think David planned on the traffic being so bad. We arrived across the street from the station, got out with all our bags (we have quite a few due to the donations for Esther's orphanage and the empty bags from the donations for the foster home)and began to run (and I mean RUN) through the traffic across the street, through the construction, down an alley street, through the security check point, down a flight of stairs that had some sort of huge green hose across the stairs, through the station to our gate, to find out that the gate number had been changed for our train... we missed our train. Had the gate not changed, we might have made it but there was no time to spare so it was out of the question that we could make it to another gate. David said wait here and I will see about changing your tickets. By this time my daughter and I are hot and sweaty. We ask for permission through jestures, to stand under a huge fan in the waiting area of our gate. As we wait, a mother assists her little girl to squat and go potty near the wall in the train station... David comes back with new tickets with a departure time six hours from then and suggests we wait in the station until then... DH and I look at eachother and say, we need another plan, we aren't willing to hang out here for six hours. So we decide to take a bus to Changsha instead of a train... our little one is very disapointed... we begin the journey back out of the train station... through the corridor, up the stairs, through the alley, around the corner... David finds two men with carts to assist with the luggage... we begin to walk to the bus station about three or four blocks away... we walk about a block or two and we come to a ticket window... we purchase three bus tickets... we continue to walk, through buses, taxis, people, contruction etc. etc., we have to keep our eye on the guys with the luggage so we don't get left behind or seperated... we don't know where the bus station is exactly... we come to a traffic jam of people... we can't get through... David explains that today the students are returning to University... the men with the carts cannot get through the crowd... they decide to turn around, go back, cross the street and go around the construction barriers and cross back over the street to the station... we follow... we arrive at the station. We have about half an hour before our bus leaves so while we wait I begin to call the "emergency" numbers I have for BOIT (the travel agency that assist with all the travel arrangements for the adoption)to let them know we will not be on the train but on a bus... none of the numbers will go through... I end up calling Utah to leave a message to call BOIT. Our bus to Changsha is called up and we exit the rear of the station to get on our bus... Davis assists us with all our bags... we step out of the station but... our bus is not there... we wait... someone comes up to the waiting group and says something in Chinese and then they begin to walk through the station's lot of parked buses... David says come this way to the bus... we follow... we all walk completely through and out of the bus parking terminal toward the street we came in on in the first place... we are weaving in and out of arriving and departing buses trying to not get hit, trying to not get seperated... one bus comes very close to our daughter... she is not accustomed to walking through traffic and she isn't aware enough of the danger...we emerge back out on the street at the front entrance of the bus station... we cross the street, through traffic... when we get to the other side we see our waiting group is reassembled... David points and says there is our bus (it was just pulling up to the corner we were standing on... but it continues around the corner and drives another half a block before it can pull over to load us all... we follow the bus... DH and I load the bags below as our daughter hops on the bus to save seats that are together... we get on the bus and she has managed to get the entire back seat to ourselves by laying down across it to reserve it... YEA! WE MADE IT!!!!!
About a half hour later my cell phone rings... BOIT is calling and they are aware of the changes, our guide Jacky (male) will meet us at the bus station, but which one?... there are 4 bus stations in Changsha... I walk to the front of the bus and give the phone to the bus attendant she tells BOIT which station we will be at.
My phone rang several times on that bus ride, the H's checking on us, Jacky confirms when we will be arriving and the Z Family called! They are here in China now and will be adopting Gabriel in a different province but we will all join up in GZ on Friday!!
Everything somehow works out in China. We made it to the Dolton Hotel and checked in. It is a beautiful hotel! Probably the nicest we've ever stayed in. Jacky says tomorrow we have a free day and he will be available by phone if we need him.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Today we went to see the HUGE dam on the Yangtze River called the Three Gorges Dam. We got up had breakfast with everyone and caught our bus. The bus made several stops along the way to pick up other tourist; we were the only caucasion tourists.
G had arranged a three hour cruise for us (wasn't Gilligan on a three hour tour?) up the Yangtze to where the dam is located. The scenery was wonderful... but I have to say, after the first hour or so it kinda is all the same... We arrived at a dock where everyone disembarked. Getting off was not quite as exciting as it was getting on, the gang plank was just that, a plank of wood with strips of wood nailed perpendicular to the plank. They lowered the plank from the boat to the river bank and we all climbed up the plank... China is great! I love that kind of thing about China, things that would NEVER fly in America...(and there are many).
We got off somewhere near the dam and had lunch. I believe lunch was included in the tour but G was concerned we would not care for the prearranged lunch so he took us to a little place and ordered lunch by the Yangtze! During lunch I said to everyone, "Can you believe we are here, together, having lunch by the Yangtze River?".
After lunch we got on the same bus that took us to the boat in the morning and went to the base of the dam. We got out of that bus and got into another bus to take us into the site-seeing area of the dam. They have many buses running a curcuit through the dam property, you get off at different points to see different parts of the dam. We spent a couple hours getting all the kids on and off these buses to see all the different parts of the dam. It was rather funny after awhile because the kids were getting a little confused why we were getting on and off so many buses.
When we finished the tour we went back down to the base of the dam on a bus and got back on the bus we arrived in and it took us back to Yichang to the bus station. And you guessed it...we got on another bus for our five hour trip back to Wuhan.
Before we got on the bus Mrs.H, G, and I went to a little shop to buy "dinner". We were getting on the bus with no time to eat dinner first. So we bought everything that was familiar and some things that weren't but we thought the kids would probably eat. It didn't amount to much... potato chips, peanuts, Oreos, a couple of different cookies and crackers, and a few tangerines, with water to drink (but not too much, the potty on the bus is a "squatty potty" and we would rather wait the five hours if possible). Mrs. H said the funniest thing to her oldest when she asked for some cookies... "No you can't eat any cookies until you've eaten your chips" :) We have standards you know...
We made it all the way without any potty breaks until we got back to the hotel... thank you Jesus! Although, the kids are getting quite good at it. My little one said, very proudly to me today, after a squatty potty break, "That was my best one yet!" It's much easier to be a man in China at times I think...

Wednesday... A Travel Day...

We had to get up at 4:00 am this morning to pack and get all the kids in the van headed to the Beijing Airport by 5:30. We left our beloved Yurts and headed out. We caught our flight out to Wuhan at 7:30.
We were greeted at the airport by our Chinese friend I will call "G". G took us to the hotel and we checked in. We went up to our rooms to drop off our bags and headed back down to meet G in the lobby. We went across the street for lunch. We tried many new dishes that we had never had before... I tell you, Chinese menus at home seem so limiting now that we have had a few meals in China. We went back to our rooms after lunch for a wonderful rest.
After our naps we joined G again in the lobby and he took us to his home, which in China is a great honor... not many people have guests to their home, only their very close friends. We had a wonderful reunion with his family, his wife and son. We had enetrtained G and his son in our home last Summer but we had never met his wife. She made us a wonderful Chinese dinner. The girls were all very happy to drink their favorite Chinese drink, a very sweet yogurt type "milk". After dinner Mrs. G played her electric keyboard for us. She has been taking lessons for three months and was a little nervous to play for us but she did a good job. G explained the ways a traditional Chinese family would host guests in their home, some of which he could demonstrate, some of which he couldn't, like offering cigarettes. But he explained each thing and told us what typically would be done. Among some of the things that we tried that were new was Lotus root seeds. They were fun to eat.
G took us back to the hotel and Mr.H so graciously offered to watch all the children so that the three remaining parents could go with G and get a foot massage. Oh my goodness!! We had to wait awhile for an opening because as G said this was "rush hour"... 8:30 at night is "rush hour" for a massage in China... ok...
Anyway we waited and waited... we decided we couldn't wait anymore because it wasn't fair to Mr.H to leave him so long with all the children... G went into action... much conversing back and forth... I have no idea what h said but he got us in right after that. IT WAS GLORIOUS!!! (to quote my friend Susan) It was so worth the wait! I don't know why it's called a foot massage because most every part of my body was massaged. They are amazing. We asked questions through G to the massage people as we were all in the same room together getting our foot massage. We found out how little they are paid and that they work 6 days a week, 12 hours a day! Wow!
We came home at nearly midnight and had a great sleep.
We are leaving this morning for an over night trip to the Three Gorges Dam. We are not taking the computer so I will need to "catch up" again when we get back tomorrow or the next day. I'm sure there will be much to tell!

Continuation...

I am trying to catch up on my entries of each days activities, sorry for the confusion. And if I repeat myself it is due to the fact that I cannot view my blog to see what has been posted.
So I left off with Tuesdays activities... after the Great Wall adventure we headed to the foster home for older children. These children are 7-16 years old. We arrived before the children were home from school yet. We were greeted by some staff members who took us on a tour. The building formerly was an elementary school called the Great Wall Elementary School. It was in a typical courtyard type layout but it had two courtyards. The building was shaped like a two story capital "E". Forming the two courtyards. One courtyard was used for parking and the other courtyard had three ping pong tables. The middle section, downstairs was the kitchen/cafeteria where the children eat their meals. They showed us the classrooms etc. and the dorm rooms for older boys, younger boys, older girls and younger girls. Very nice and clean facilities.
We felt so welcome as soon as we arrived. There was a peace about the place. Soon the children arrived home from school... they were very cheerful and everyone of them greeted us hello. Quite a few of them were very eager to use their English and approached us to start conversations. These children were very intelligent and their English was very good. Our children were quite an attraction to all of them, especially little potato, who herself is Chinese and probably bewilders the children as to why she is with these American families. The children began to play with eachother in the courtyard. Our little one and one of the H girls were playing Ring Around The Rosie. The little Chinese girls were sitting watching them intently... I went over and joined our girls and invited the Chinese girls to join us... several did... and then more... and then more... and then we had so many little girls joining hands we did not have enough space... I took one of them by the hand, broke the circle and walked her around the ping pong table and joined her hand back up to the circle. Now we had a huge circle going around the ping pong table in the courtyard singing Ring Around The Rosie! It was a fantastic sight that I will always remember.
I said to Mrs. H, "What else can we play with them?" We thought and came up with Simon Says... yes! they had played Simon Says before! They were excited... Mrs. H was Simon and she began to call the commands... everyone was having so much fun... then one of the girls said, as her hands were still on her head from the last command, "It is time for us to go to dinner now". So we all went to the cafeteria and ate our delicious dinner on a stainless steel cafeteria tray. They graciously provided plastic spoons for each of the foreigners... but we used chopsticks :)
One little girl that sat with us was Patsy, she was so tiny I thought she was about 6 or 7 (a small 6 or 7) she said she was 10. She didn't speak alot of English but a little bit. She obviously did not like everything the cook had to offer that night, she had two items out of five... rice and a curried potatoe and beef dish. She was the last one to finish eating out of the 44 children and all of the guests as well. She was eating and talking a little bit with us and someone came along to encourage her to hurry up and after they left she looked at us and took her finger, placed it on her nose and pushed up while she snorted like a pig... we laughed so hard. We did not need language to understand that she was saying everyone else eats so fast, like little pigs... that began our "conversation" of farm animal sounds... she would make a mooooo and we would say, "cow"... she would bark and we would say, "dog" etc... it was great fun. (Esther... how about another sister?)
We played more with them after dinner things like Duck, Duck, Goose. It was a GREAT day and I am so glad we went along with the H's plans that day... nothing could have topped this experience!
We took our hired van back to the foster home we are staying in and arrived home quite late at night (now you know why I am having a hard time keeping up with my blog)

Back to the Great Wall...

We never anticipated returning to The Great Wall; we were there in March of 2006. But we are drawn to it again... This time we went to a different section of the Wall. We aproached it in a completely different way... we took a chair lift (the kind used at ski resorts) up to the top of the Great Wall. We walked around and as soon as we got off the chair lift I started filming and tripped on the stairs, fell and broke my camera. I'm ok, just a little scratched up toe is all, but now when I need to take a picture I have to squeeze my camera together with one hand and try and operate it with the remaining hand. Zooming is a little difficult. We are going to look for a new camera. We got a few shots, but boy what a time to have technical difficulties!
The best part was our return down the mountain, we rode little tobogans down a metal flume. It had a brake for slowing yourself down and it only went forward when you pushed the brake handle forward. I filmed it all the way down! Such excitement!!!It was GREAT fun!!! I REALLY wanted to do this but I didn't think we would get the chance. This trip was impromtu. The H's had a trip planned to another foster home for older children near the Great Wall and when we heard the were going to this place as well, we were all in!
I saw pictures on Steven Curtis Chapman's blog that he and his family went down this tobogan run and I wanted to do it ever since.
I spent my morning meeting with the director of the foster home we are staying in. I learned a lot about their ministry and discussed my involvement in the future and how to best help them. It was a very useful time for me. Our little one spent the morning helping with the toddlers in the preschool time. She loved it. The H girls spent time playing with the orphans helping the Nannies to care for the babies.
Have to go to dinner... more later...