China- Day 5 {First Day in Jiangxi}

Today was much more relaxed, which we needed after two full days of touring. We ventured out of our hotel in search of lunch and toys. We found both. We had our first Chinese McDonald's experience. The double cheeseburger was just like home...grease and all. We spotted a Wal-Mart, but of course, this isn't your average Wal-Mart. It has multiple floors, including ramp-escalators to take your carts on. The noise is amazing. It is complete chaos in there.

When we got to the toy section, we found a kitchen play set that (surprise!) has an ear of corn in it! ;) So we had to buy it, plus it was only a $1. Then Alex found this blue inflatable elephant. A little girl about Brielle's age was playing with it. He was determined we were going to get one for Brielle. And when not a single one could be found in a box...we bought the sample. :)
We also bought some snacks for Brielle. The food items here are interesting to say the least. I loved reading all of the labels. Everything is so cheap, we should probably buy some of the strange flavors to see if they are any good. I know my girls will think those pink & purple oreos are cool. :)
This afternoon, we relaxed in the room...updating the blog and watching a movie. This hotel has HBO and Cinemax in English! We get about 6 channels here in English so that will be nice to have when Brielle is napping or we just need to relax in the room. (Our Beijing hotel had nothing in English.)

This evening, we had dinner with our new friends from Texas. They are with our agency and are adopting a little boy. They have 3 girls at home. Back in February, our agency put us in contact because we received our LOAs on the same day. She told me she was from the Houston area. My cousin Tomi (We are close in age and have always been close friends.) lives there too. I mentioned then that my cousin lived in a suburb near there. I quickly found out that D, the adoptive mom, lives near Tomi. Anyway, once we both received our TAs and knew we were traveling at the same time, I texted Tomi and said, "Small world! The family we are traveling with in China is from [town]." She immediately texted back that she had forgotten to tell me that she knew the couple!! Tomi worked with the dad's mom (grandma) for 6 years. Tomi even spent Thanksgiving with their family once. When I asked D about it, she replied, "Oh yes, my mother-in-law has pictures of them on her fridge." So I know it may seem silly but I am just always amazed to see how God has His hands in everything. A family that lives 16+ hours away from me knows my family and now we are having dinner together on the other side of the world! :) We had dinner at the hotel and discussed our experiences so far in Beijing.

Way back when I announced our intentions to adopt, I mentioned that I had read a blog about a little Chinese girl with a special heart that nudged me to look into a special needs adoption. Her name is Harper. Little Harper is from Jiangxi province. Her parents met her for the first time in a hotel room in Nanchang...at the Galactic Peace Hotel to be exact! God used her story to speak to me, but I didn't realize just how much our experience would mimic theirs! Our Sovereign God already knew what would play out on April 23, 2012. He gave me a glimpse of it back in the summer of 2010 when I read Harper's story. I read lots of stories back then of children all throughout China, but it was Harper's that so vividly stood out to me and now here we are!

We are hours away from meeting Brielle. I am really starting to get anxious...not necessarily about tomorrow but about how this will affect our lives forever. We know without a doubt that God chose this plan for our family and I am trusting in that!

China- Day 4 & 5 morning {Great Wall, Summer Palace, and the Train}

Our trip has been amazing so far! Yesterday morning, we skyped with the girls, packed up our stuff, and met a driver we had hired in the lobby. He spoke very little English but we still enjoyed his company and he served us well. He told us he was a taxi driver for 20 years and started being a personal driver about a year ago.

First, we drove about an hour and half out of the city to the Great Wall at Mutianyu. It was cloudy when we left but drizzling when we arrived. We bought some ponchos and decided to take the cable car up and down instead of trying to hike it all in the rain. We were so lucky though that once we arrived at the top, the rain had stopped! The fog added such a mysterious, medieval feel to the experience. It hindered the distance we could see the wall but made the experience kind-of cool too. We walked/climbed to several different towers. The steps are uneven from just a couple of inches high to about 18 inches high and some areas are more like ramps than steps. It was a workout for sure! Alex said he wished he could call someone and say he was calling from the Great Wall but it was nighttime at home. Then we remembered Adam was in the Philippines so we called him. It made us feel closer to home knowing his brother was in Asia too. :)
After the Great Wall, we asked our driver to take us to a Chinese restaurant. He first took us to a fancy place that was bustling with people. We felt totally out of our comfort zone. Between our driver's minimal English and not having a waitress that spoke English, he told us "too difficult" and motioned for us to leave. We then headed down some side streets to a little mom & pop shop. There were only about 6 tables in the little restaurant. (Reminded me of the places in Mexico we've been to.) We tried to use a little book to translate what we wanted. We ordered chicken with green peppers, rice, and noodles. What we got was chicken with squash, tons of rice, and no noodles, but it was delicious! I knew we'd only have chopsticks to eat with but I think we surprised ourselves with how well we did! There was a group of 5 men sitting around a table in the room with us. They were slurping away on their noodles & soup (expected behavior in their culture) and talking up a storm. I wish now I would have gotten a picture of us with the owner. They thanked us for coming and followed us outside to wave good-bye. I doubt they see many Americans in their restaurant.
We drove back into Beijing to the Summer Palace. By this time, the sun decided to peek out, giving us a beautiful afternoon to explore the huge park. The Summer Palace is situated on Kunming Lake. The bridges, boats, and trees around it are so peaceful and pretty. We ate ice cream and watched some dancers in the "Spacious Pavilion." The cutest dancer by far though was a little girl about Braylee's age who was dancing in the crowd. She definitely knew what she was doing--appeared to be a ballroom or Latin flare. I captured some on video for Miss Brynna to see.
We spent about 3 hours walking over the grounds, which was home to the Emperor in the summer months. We climbed a ton of steps to get to the top of the temple, where they would burn incense to Buddha. Those steps were almost worse than the Great Wall!

Then it was time to head to the train station. When our agency's in-country coordinator booked our tickets, she wasn't able to get our beds next to each other. Our wonderful driver wrote out our situation on a piece of paper, helped us navigate through the crazy-busy train station, and then told us to show the note to someone once we were on the train. While we were waiting for boarding, a man sitting next to us leaned up and read our note. (Not a lot of privacy around here!) He gave us the thumbs up as it mentioned we are here to adopt a baby.

Once we made it on the train, we weren't exactly sure where to go. This is when I think we may have encountered an angel. :) We were standing in the hall with 3 other people. Alex said, "Ask that guy down there in the suit." I passed the other 2 people to get to him. He spoke perfect English!  He showed us where our bunks were and even before he read our note, said it wouldn't be a problem to ask someone to switch with us. He helped explain our situation to another passenger who quickly agreed to trade with us so I could be in Alex's room. He made sure we were settled and then said, "Now if you need anything else, I will be in bunk 36." Later, Alex went to ask him about deboarding in the morning. He wasn't in bunk 36 and we never saw him again. Angel or not, God knew we needed his help!
For other APs considering the train... There are 4 beds per room. The bunks are narrow but you could share it with a small child. The bathrooms compared to ones on planes- bigger but grosser. The washroom had 3 sinks and was very clean. The linens and pillows were clean and comfortable. When you pass another train or station at night, it causes flashing lights in your room so pull the drapes before you go to sleep. (We didn't because we let the Chinese couple we were sharing with control the lights, music, etc.) There was plenty of room to store our suitcases. I really enjoyed seeing the countryside after the sun came up in the morning.

Our guide for the week picked us up at the train station around 7:30am. She seems kind and helpful so far. Her Chinese name is Yan, I believe, but she said we can call her Claire. She said, "I used to be called Wanda but then someone said it didn't fit me so now I picked a new name, Claire." Claire does fit her well. She is a pretty, petite woman with long hair. We were thankful we could check in to our room early.

We are staying at Galactic Peace Hotel. Our room is very nice with large windows- that even vent open- loving the fresh air and sounds from the street below. Our guide let us choose if we wanted to meet Brielle in the lobby or in our room. We chose our room. She said she will arrive around 10:30-11 tomorrow morning!! As we were standing in the hotel lobby, I felt suddenly overwhelmed with the excitement that tomorrow will bring. We are finally in her province, only hours away from where she lives!
We are venturing out to find some lunch and new toys for Brielle. The other family with our agency should be arriving at the hotel in a couple of hours. We are anxious to finally meet them in person too--more on that soon!

Just a few more tidbits...
--I had my first squatty potty experience yesterday at the Great Wall. It actually isn't bad, but they stink like port-a-potties. I've since used a squatty two more times. If I can learn to hold my breath and squat at the same time without passing out, the experience would be fine. ;)

--The hotels require you to have your room key in a little slot by the door for the lights/outlets to work. Genius idea to save energy...except it means the refrigerator doesn't run when we are gone either.[Now we leave one key in and take one key with us!]

--It seems the Chinese love their corn!! Perhaps I noticed this because "corn" is what paid for my college. ;) (My dad works for AgriGold.) They eat corn on the cob everywhere. At all the sight-seeing places and along the streets, we see people buying corn from vendors. At the American restaurants, you can choose french fries or... a cup of corn. We saw a little kid playing with a toy today...corn husk on wheels with a little corn cob that came out and spun like a top. Yesterday, we found a frozen corn treat mixed in with the ice cream.

--Last thing...how is the shutterfly site?? Are you all able to see the photo albums?

China- Day 3.5 {Musings in wee hours}

Since we woke up early, I figured I would post a few more little things about yesterday that I was too tired to do last night.

The subway cost about 30 cents per ride. It was marked in Pinyin and some English so it was easy to follow the signs. They were crowded, which allowed for lots of people watching. We haven't seen any flip flops...most of the women wear fancy shoes, either flats or super high-heels, not much in between. We saw a cute shoe shop at the mall that I thought my sister Tracee would love...lots of adorable flats in small sizes. ;)

Since we are on our own in Beijing, we haven't been adventerous with food yet. We definitely aren't starving though. They fed us well on the plane- two full meals and a snack. We had Subway the first night. It was slightly different from home but still good. We stuck with the BBQ chips although other options included cucumber and fried prawn. Yesterday, we ate at KFC- again different from home but ok and the best thing was that the drink was cold! Then for dinner, we had Nathan's Famous. If you know Alex, he loves healthy foods. He hasn't had french fries since who knows when. Well, yesterday, he had them twice. ;) It's something that's recognizable and tastes like home. We order by pointing at pictures or the food itself. So far, we've gotten what we ordered.

We tried to absorb everything our guide was telling us at the Forbidden City but it was a ton of information, in choppy English. We learned the City has 9,999 rooms- 1 because #9 is lucky and 2 because "even the emperor didn't think anyone besides God deserved 10,000 rooms." He had many concubines. When the guide said the emperor had many children, I said, "When you have many wives, you are likely to have many children." He quickly corrected me... 1 wife, many concubines. After all- it would have been frowned upon to have more than one wife you know... We liked seeing the actual robes, dishes, and wedding ceremony pieces in the gallery. All of them have the "Double happiness" 囍 character on them. Many of them also have cranes on them (the bird). Our guide said the crane represents "everything is just peachy!" ;) Alex and I haven't seen the movie "The Last Emperor" before but we definitely want to see it now.

Speaking of the Last Emperor, we were taken into a private area on the Forbidden City grounds to meet the Last Emperor's living nephew. He is quite old but does beautiful calligraphy work. They tried to talk us into buying one of his canvases and then we could "get our photo next to him for sentimental purposes." They were expensive so we declined. This was the only time the entire day that we were pushed to buy something. We had been warned there would be vendors all over the place being pushy, but we didn't find that to be the case at all.

Our last stop of the day was at the Olympic Park. We went inside the Bird's Nest. It was very surreal to know we watched the Opening Ceremonies (twice bc we loved it so much) back in 2008 without the thought that we would actually ever be there someday. We also saw the Water Cube where Michael Phelps won all of his golds.

The emperor lived at the Forbidden City in the fall to early spring but then would live in the Summer Palace near the lake where it was cooler during the hotter months. We are planning to see the Summer Palace today-- but the forecast is calling for rain so we may not get to fully enjoy it. We are also headed to the Great Wall!! So excited about that one.

Tonight, we are boarding a train to Nanchang-- the capital of Brielle's province! This is where we will meet her!! I can't believe how close we are! Please pray the train ride goes smoothly...hoping to sleep the majority of the trip since it's overnight. I probably won't have a chance to update the blog again until we are settled into our hotel in Nanchang on Sunday morning.

China- Day 3 {Touring Beijing}

Wow, what a day! We are exhausted, partly from the jetlag I suppose but mostly because we did a ton of walking. I was a tad nervous about touring Beijing on our own, but it was easy.  We loved being able to move at our own pace and choose where we wanted to go. We took the subway 4 different times with multiple transfers...all for a total of about $3 for the two of us. My city-boy husband loved navigating the subway system.

We started the morning by Skyping with the girls! Yeah! They filled us in on the spoiling they are getting, danced for us, and chatted up a storm. Braylee has surprised me with how well she is doing so far. Brynna was struggling the last day before we left and I could see it in her eyes when we were skyping too. She started rubbing her eyes and her little lips were quivering. We gave kisses over the computer though and she seemed to be ok when we said good-bye.

Then we jumped on the subway and headed to Tiananmen Square. We went up in the gate tower, walked through the actual square and then over to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is huge. It would have taken forever to go through all of it. We spent about 2 hours seeing it with a guide we hired outside the gate for about $30. Lots of little tidbits he shared with us and we enjoyed him. He has a PhD and does research work with a local university but does the tours on the side. He was very happy for us to be adopting XinMeng and again, we were told she has a great name. Everything is based on meanings and symbols here. The number 9 is lucky and her name Fu means good fortune, so between her name and being born in the 9th month, he told us our daughter would be very lucky in life.

Throughout the day, I couldn't help but watch all of the cute little kids. They are so adorable and dressed in such peculiar ways. This little one caught my eye early in the morning.I also realized that how Brielle is dressed in her pictures has nothing to do with the fact that she is in an orphanage/foster care. Most all of the children I saw today were in mismatched layers. ;) I saw a little boy in split pants. (They are pants with a split crotch so the children can squat and potty when needed during the potty-training process.) I also saw a little girl pee on the floor in the subway and a little boy pee in the trashcan in the subway, both completely normal in this culture and no one seemed to notice, except for me of course who was getting a kick out of experiencing this culture firsthand.

In Tiananmen Square... The weather was hazy and a bit damp all day, until it started raining in the late afternoon. We expected we would have some wet days here with it being April as Beijing's weather is similar to ours back home.

At the Temple of Heaven

Bird's Nest stadium from Olympics in 2008

I will upload my photos to Brielle's shutterfly site each day too.
Click on the link on the side of the blog. :)

Brielle's Baby "Sprinkle"

My sweet, sweet friends hosted a little baby "sprinkle" for us! Greta had warned me a couple of months ago about surprising me after we surprised Jenn w/her baby sprinkle. Well...I am not good with surprises. I actually was glad we were leaving so quickly after TA because I thought it meant they wouldn't have time to plan something! ;) Little did I know, they had already chosen the date weeks before. It's not that I don't appreciate their kindness or the surprise, it's just very humbling to be loved on so much! I literally almost threw up in Greta's van because I was so nervous. When we arrived, they let off balloons. The girls loved it. Feeling a little unsure about what was happening. :)The theme was ladybugs. Loved it! The ladybug is a symbol of good luck in the China Adoption world. They made all of my favorite snack foods too!

Mandy, Me & my girls, Greta, Tonya & her girls, Rose, and Mandi in the back.

Abby, Abbie, Jenn, Alison, & Krista in the front.

"I love you like Crazy Cakes", a book about a little girl adopted from China- from my sister-in-law Mandi. She also got Brielle an adorable pink & black bracelet with ladybugs on it.

Abby made a ragdoll for Brielle that even has her name on the its tooshie. ;)

So many lovely and thoughtful gifts were given. My little girl is so very loved!! The best part of the whole day?! My friends covered me in prayer. I cried. They cried. It was such a special moment (even after Braylee came in and said, "Hey what's going on!?"). Thank you all for encouraging me on this journey and being so excited for us as we reached each step in the process. I've been meaning to post about the shirt I was wearing for awhile now. WildOlivesTees.com designs faith-based shirts that are sold to help families raise money for their adoption expenses. The shirt I am wearing was designed for a heart baby named Esther. Unfortunately, Esther died in China before her family could bring her home for her life-saving heart surgery. In honor of Esther and other heart babies in Chinese orphanages, WildOliveTees is now donating their proceeds from these shirts to help fund surgeries for other waiting heart babies. So, even if you feel like God isn't leading you personally to adopt, here is an easy way to help orphans in China. Plus, it's a really cool shirt. ;) The back has John 3:16 on it.

Here are the rest of the Sprinkle pictures: Sprinkle Album. (Ignore how tight my pants are...they fit much better 6 lbs ago!!)

China Trip- Days 1 & 2 {We made it!}

Wednesday morning, Alex’s parents took us to the airport. I held back my tears so the girls wouldn’t be upset and they both did really well. We had a short layover in Chicago…just enough time to eat lunch at Chili’s. God knew I needed that last serving of chips and salsa before we left! ;)

Last picture as a family of 4!

The flight to Beijing was not bad at all. We received a free upgrade to Economy Plus so we had plenty of leg room. The only bad thing about the entire flight was a cute little boy who cried quite a bit towards the end. I put in earplugs, put my headphones on over them, and could still hear his screaming roar. It made me think that I should buy handfuls of ear plugs for the passengers sitting next to us on the way back! We watched several movies and TV shows, read/played games on our Kindles, and even got a few hours of sleep. I loved watching our path on the map. At one point, it said it was ­-75*F outside. We flew up over Alaska and Russia. The girls will be disappointed, but we didn’t see Santa…just lots and lots of snow. We did meet one of my online friends though. They are from Atlanta and are adopting their 1st child.

Headed to Beijing

Amanda and I, after 13+ hours on the plane

Our hotel in Beijing. (You can see the smog in the air.)

Within an hour of being in Beijing, I had already seen a squatty potty (but didn’t have to use it), experienced the crazy traffic, and was told to put a jacket on because it was cool outside (They prefer to dress warmly.). We made it to our hotel around 5pm Thursday (5am Thursday morning at home), so just at 23 hours of travel time. We weren’t too tired when we arrived so we cleaned up, went out for a stroll, found some dinner, tried to Skype with the girls but had some computer issues and are now getting ready to try to sleep…on the very hard bed. It’s like a box spring with a sheet on it. We aren’t really complaining about any of these things...just want to share the details. We are trying to soak in our experience here and enjoy the differences from home.

China Trip- Day 1 {The time is really here!!}

I have chills reading the comments from yesterday. So thankful to have many prayer warriors on our behalf!! I slept very little last night, which isn't helping with the anxious feelings this morning. I have been quoting scripture from Isaiah in my head as I get ready...asking God for that perfect peace.

An exciting update... The plan right now is for the orphanage staff to bring Brielle to our hotel room on Monday, April 23rd around 11am, which will be 11pm on Sunday night in Indiana!! Please be praying for her little heart to be open to us. I also pray that God will just flood our hearts with an overwhelming love and protection for this little girl we have never met but already call our daughter.

We are headed to Chicago and then on to Beijing. If we can survive a 24+ hr bus trip to Mexico, I think this trip might not be too bad! ;)

Itinerary, Nursery Pictures, & Lots More!

Lots of questions being asked! When do we leave? What will we be doing there? When will we meet Brielle? Do we have her room ready? I am happy to fill you in on all of it!!

Itinerary

Wed 4/18- Leave Indy at 10am, connect in Chicago, settle in for long flight

Thurs 4/19- Arrive in Beijing around 2:30pm local time (2:30am Friday EST)

Fri 4/20- Tour

Sat 4/21- Tour, Overnight train to Nanchang, Jiangxi

Sun 4/22- Arrive in Brielle's province! 

Mon 4/23- Gotcha Day! Meet Brielle!

Tues 4/24- Adoption Day- Officially ours!

Wed 4/25- Enjoy Nanchang, visit the orphanage and foster family in Fuzhou?

Thurs 4/26- Tour

Fri 4/27- Receive Brielle’s Passport and fly to Guangzhou, Guangdong

Sat 4/28- Medical Exam

Sun 4/29- Free day

Mon 4/30- Consulate Appointment

Tues 5/1- Free day

Wed 5/2- Receive Brielle’s visa, travel by train to Hong Kong in the evening

Thurs 5/3- Head Home!! Arrive in Indy around 5pm (will feel like 5am Friday to us!)

Answers to some of those FAQ:

We will arrive in Beijing to get acclimated to the time change and do some sight-seeing. China is 12 hours ahead of us. So while you all are sleeping, we are starting the next day! No actual adoption stuff will be done there.

The adoption will take place in Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province. Brielle will be brought by the orphanage workers to meet us either at the Civil Affairs office or our hotel. We will meet her either on Sunday or Monday, which is our "Gotcha Day." We will complete papers to be guardians for the next 24 hrs. This is referred to as the "Harmonious Period" to decide if we want to proceed with the adoption. The next day, we will go back and complete the adoption. At that point, she will officially have our last name and be ours FOREVER! We will then need to stay in her province until her Chinese passport is issued.

To complete the American paperwork, we will travel to Guangzhou, Guangdong. The US Consulate is located there so all American adoptive families end their journey in GZ to take the Oath of Citizenship on their child's behalf and to be issued a visa for her passport.

Once we meet Brielle on Gotcha Day, she will be with us the rest of the trip.

The length of our trip is based on the amount of time it requires for all of the meetings and paperwork to be processed. Just like in the US, a passport is not issued in a matter of hours. While we will miss our big girls tremendously, we are thankful for the bonding time we will have alone with our new daughter. Unfortunately, it may not be quite enough bonding time to enjoy the 15 hr flight home from Hong Kong. :) Prayers are appreciated!

We hope to visit her orphanage and meet her foster parents. Once we are in her province, we can request to go to Fuzhou, but we won't know for sure until we get there. I would love even just a few minutes to talk to her foster mom about her likes/dislikes, milestones, sleep & food routines, etc. We know this will be a once in a lifetime opportunity and we pray our request is granted.

The room we've been preparing for our little princess. 

The awesome growth chart my sweet friend Abbie got her!

I still have a few more things to add...like photo frames and big baskets for the shelves but for the most part, it is complete. This was originally the playroom but when I decided to go with lavendar, green, and aqua, it seemed silly to paint the other room the same colors. So we moved the toys into the plain white room and set up the nursery in the painted room. I hope she likes it. :)


A glimpse at what we have been doing in between packing and booking flights/hotels/train tickets:

The girls drew "our world" then a ship across the ocean and "China world" with a pagoda and Great Wall.

Our last weekend before travel, we asked the girls what they wanted to do. They picked bowling and Mr. Gatti's. They had a blast. Brynna watches the bowling balls like a hawk. ;)

Yesterday, we cleaned up the high chair. Brynna practiced being a big sister.I wrapped gifts for the girls to open each day while we are gone. I hope it makes the 2 weeks go by a little quicker for them.

Bringing out all of the baby toys is like Christmas morning! I heard them talking about their horses and harvest while playing with the barn last night. ;)

Braylee earned her 1st white ribbon (level 3) at gymnastics for vault. She was pumped! (I have been having C.R.A.Z.Y dreams lately! After seeing this picture, I dreamt last night that I only had one leg!)

We are so excited to finally be heading to China to meet our youngest daughter! Just like labor, the horrible paper-chase is becoming a distant memory and our eye is on the end reward!

We are so humbled God chose us for this journey and can't wait to see what He has in store for Brielle's life!