I feel faint.....

This morning we had to be in the hotel lobby at 8:45 to head to Jackzhen's medical check appointment and TB test.  We found out that there were a lot of plane delays last night due to weather, so our driver had to pick up a few families at the airport this morning, so we did not have a driver. As a result we had to take a taxi and that only seats 4 people, soooo, Madison and I went to the appointment with Jackzhen, and our guide Cordelia.  We arrived and got his visa picture taken and then waited for our turn for the medical check!  Jackzhen did great, they confirmed that he does have muscle control in his left arm, he can raise it half way, he just doesn't like to use it! They also noted that his left leg has some muscle weakness too, but we already knew that, not sure why the orphanage never noted it, but oh well! The waiting room was crawling with American families, all there for the same reason! It was a comforting sight as this was our first day in Guangzhou, until now we have been in Nanning where we were just a walking freak show.  Almost everyone would stop dead in their tracks to catch a glimpse of our family, so it was very comforting to be in a room with other people that could have cared less that we were even there!!!  We were done with the exam part and about to get his height and weight checked when Madison asked to sit down, I told her "sure!" and proceeded to the next room.  I glanced back to make sure that she got to her seat and that is when I noticed that my sweet, helpful, 10 year old was about as white as a Kleenex and about to pass out!!! I ran to her and made her drink some water, eat a bite of a cracker, and lay down on my lap.  I felt so awful! What was I thinking having this poor child go with me(?) she is the one that can't even say the word "needle" without feeling weak in the knees and sweating!!! Thankfully Cordelia is a mom too and she was fine taking Jackzhen to the room for his height and weight.  Madison started getting color back in her face and she was okay for me to go back to help with Jackzhen.  When I got in the room, he reached for me as if to say "where have you been?" Considering he can't really communicate with us yet, I take those little moments and hold them tightly!!!

I saw my friend Laura Beth and her son Jaxson at the appointment too! I was glad to see her face and catch up for a quick minute! We commiserated about our sons whacking us from time to time, (maybe it is how Asian boys show love haha) but we both also agreed that they are making progress too! We finished the appointment with a TB test, he flinched but didn't seem to mind it a bit.  Then we were all done and we headed back to the hotel by taxi.  Jackzhen was hungry and a little irritable from sitting in his stroller so long. Thankfully I had a snack in my purse that kept him happy for the ride home.  At this point in the "game" it is very important to keep him HAPPY!!!! Because when he gets over tired, frustrated, or hurt, it is not a pretty sight!!! Let's just say that is the time when he talks to us in Cantonese the most, and unfortunately it is at a level so loudly everyone else is force to hear him too!!! It is so nice being with our guides tho, they help so greatly with the communication barrier.  Jackzhen can say things like please, thank you, hello, bye bye, mommy, daddy, sorry, no, swallow, all in English, but those words don't really help when he wants to run down the side walk next to a street full of unaware drivers.  He gets very frustrated when he can't communicate with us and equally as mad when he can't understand us.  I think this age is one of the most difficult ages to adopt.  I remember very well my three other children at 3.  They were each, testing the waters of independence and daily in need of correction. I remember how difficult it was, most recently, JUST 2 years ago with our sweet Jillian! She is our strong willed cutie, who was a daily challenge in parenting and she knew ENGLISH! I think I now know why God put us through those tests! I look at my beautiful girl now and I see a confident, helpful, thoughtful 5 year old, that desires nothing more than to please her mommy and daddy! I can remember so clearly those days that I just wanted to throw my hands up in the air and let her have her own way, but I preserved, and today we are reaping the benefits of discipline and gentle correction!  Although we are still in country and it hasn't even been a week that we have been with him, we still need to set the guidelines for kindness and obedience.  THIS is a VERY difficult thing to do right now.  I can't imagine not having a helpmate like Jason, he reminds me when I am sad that this too will have a reward for our dedication and love! He is right.... I am so thrilled that there is, at the very least, a song that comforts Jackzhen when he is having a "moment"... Jesus Loves Me! I just have to start singing it in his ear and he is silent! It will all come together soon, but don't think for a second that I am not giving him a dose of Benadryl for the 16 hour flight home!!!

With Love on Saturday in Guangzhou, China!

Jackzhen VS the AMERICAN Toilet

You take for granted how "simple" a toilet is, until you are united with your sweet child who has NEVER SEEN ONE!!!! Jackzhen does great using the potty for "new new" (pee pee in Cantonese).  However, "O-sheee" (poo poo) is terrifying to him! The toilet is up too high to climb on top of and squat like he is use to! If you think that this is getting too personal, you may want to stop reading here HA! I asked our guide Shi Shi about his fear and she said this, "it is normal and it will all work out soon!" WHAT??? of course it will, I wanted to hear a quick fix solution for R-I-G-H-T N-O-W! She then proceeded to tell me that a few years ago, a grown Chinese man, asked her how to use the toilet for "O-sheee"!!!! YES a grown man was confused at this contraption we call a TOILET!!!!  Of course she proceed to show me (not entirely) how she showed him that you can stand on top of a toilet to "squat"!!!! ahhhhhhhhhhh there is no modesty left here in China! I think I will leave the visual demonstration to Mason, after all, he was praying for this day too!!! LOL :) Okay bed is calling my name because we have to be at the bus station at 7:30 in the morning, we are headed to WuZhou!!!! xo

B is for brother.....

For years Mason prayed for a brother! When he was 4, he use to tell me that he wished he had a brother because "Madison had a sister!", (as if Jillian wasn't his sister) but that was his 4 year old mentality! He would even pray at night for a brother.... As he got older he realized what an awesome "brother" he had in his little sister! She loves to play lego's and anything else her big brother is interested in. Although Mason has realized that his joy can be found in other ways, I know in his heart he is SO excited about adding some testosterone to our family! This morning our guide Belinda asked Jackzhen how he did yesterday and how he liked his family, his response to her was.... " I am happy, I played ball with my brother!" As if I need to even tell you that I had instant tears!!! How sweet.........

Mason was praying for a brother when he was 4, which was 2008, the same year a perfect little boy was born! So glad God answered those prayers of yours Mason <3 

I think Jackzhen needs you as much as you "needed" him!!! xox

Provincial Completion and Restaurant 101

What a great day! We started off at 9am traveling to two appointments.  The first was back to the CAB office to sign the papers and make the adoption official in his province.  China calls the first 24 hours harmony period and gives adoptive families a chance to get to know a child before committing to them! YEAH RIGHT!!!!! Like there was any doubt we were going to send this little boy back to anywhere but FLORIDA with US!!!! But anywhoo we went to sign papers and meet with his orphanage nannies and director one last time! Jackzhen was looking at a book with Jillian when they walked in the room.  He looked up and said Ni Hao and kept looking at the book.  They were excited to see him and talked to him a lot! They are so happy for us and encouraging of us to him - I love that.  We took some pictures with them and then they left! He didn't seem to care, which is a great sign considering how much he was loved and cared for at his orphanage.  It means that in 24 hours he is happy and content with us.  It confirms our decision to visit his orphanage, it helps us to see that he will be okay going back there, and yet leaving with us in the end! We left that office and drove to a notary.  At both appointments we were with our new friends that we have met through this process! It is so nice to walk into a building in the middle of China and see a familiar English speaking face! Never again will I take living in a small town for granted!!! We sat down at the desk of the notary and again agreed to "never leave, harm, or abandon him" geeeeeeez, I think I have written that 4-6 times in 9 months.... But none the less we jumped through their hoops! Our guide Belinda and the notary were speaking back and forth to one another and I was dying to know what they were saying!!! That appointment only took 15 minutes and we were back in the van heading back to the hotel! I wasn't going to ask Belinda what they were saying, in case they were talking about how ugly my shirt was, HAHA - but she offered! She said that they lady saw my birth year, 1980, and laughed because we were the same age! She said WOW, 4 KIDS??? I smiled and said, she too could have that many right? I knew the answer to that already! Belinda had already gone over the one child rule with us.  She too has a 3.5 year old, a little girl.  Her and her husband are done having children.  She explained to us that there are 52 different Chinese "groups of people" if you will - Belinda is a minority group and therefore she could have more than one child, however, her husband is not a minority, therefore, they can only have one! You would  think that our situation is not a big deal, I mean most people in the US have 2-4 kids and that is normal.  I know there will always be some "JOE" in Target that will remind you that you have your hands full, but for the most part walking around with a few kiddos is widely accepted and most of the time not even talked about! However, here, it fills people with WONDER!!!  Between Jillian's blonde curls, Jackzhen strolling with an America family, my Mark II 5D, and the fact that we have 4 children, it literally stops people in their tracks! They stop our guide and comment on all of the above! It is very normal for locals to ask to take pictures with westerners, but the gaggle of questions that follow are completely intriguing to me! I told Jillian the next time someone touches her curls to ask for 20 yuan!!! haha

Later on in the day we went to the people's park with our friends from the 9th floor.  We fed the fish again, Jackzhen even ate some some fish food himeself, OOPS!!! We then walked to a circular arena and the kids got to kick a soccer ball! I would guess that they are probably the star of about 12 home videos here in China after their game- oh well!!!

We came back to the hotel and had dinner with our friends. Jillian fell asleep before her food came and Jackzhen kept imitating her with her head down on the table, funny stuff!!! We are having quite a bit of fun with our new little parrot! He repeats just about everything we say and we even taught him how to Teebow at dinner! On a side note, here are a few things about ordering at a restaurant here in China... 1.  They bring the food out as it is done, NOT all at once! 2.  They forget who ordered what and you have to juggle food around on the table.  3.  They will not bring you your check until you ask for it, (finger tapping doesn't mean anything to them haha) 4.  No tipping allowed!!! A man ran us down at pizza hut just to give it back!!! (score one for China)

Bedtime tonight was much easier than last night! Jackzhen grumbled and kicked a little, but he laid himself down, and fell asleep with daddy! Progress is being made in just 24 hours!!!

And finally - some sap for this blog post........  I am falling more and more in love with my sweet husband on this trip.  I knew he was an amazing father to the three kiddos that the Lord blessed us with from my womb, but seeing the love and commitment that he has for this little guy, fills my heart with JOY.  Thank you Lord for Jason - for allowing him to see my hearts desire and making it his own, for bringing us half way around the world, and uniting us as a family even more!!! xo

 ASSISTANT DIRECTOR AND TWO NANNIES FROM HIS ORPHANAGE....

 BELINDA, ONE OF OUR GUIDES!!! I CAN NOT WAIT TO GET HOME TO BLOG ALL ABOUT THIS AWESOME LADY!!!!

 HE LOVES TO GIVE US KISSES!!!

YES, THESE ARE FROGS, AND YES THEY ARE INSIDE OF WALMART!!!!!!!! THERE IS A SECTION FOR ANIMALS LIKE THIS, KIND OF LIKE OUR MEAT SECTION AT PUBLIX!

Mimicking big sister...

 Congee for dinner makes Qiu Qiu happy!!!

 Learning to Teebow....

MONDAY in Nanning....

What a crazy busy couple of days! I sit here now in the quiet of our hotel room to write this while Jason is at breakfast with the 4 kids, what an amazing man I am married to!!!  Monday started off great, we woke up way too early but none of us could sleep! We went downstairs for some breakfast.  It was supposed to be western style, however there was nothing but congee (thick soup), rice, noodles, and fruit.  One of the waitresses came over to us and with her one finger in the air said, you omelet? you omelet? There was our western!!!  We ordered 4 "omelets" and when they got to our table, there were not what we were expecting! Chinese people don't like cheese! They think its gross and they don't cook with it, so we had an "omelet" an egg omelet!!! When breakfast was done we were talking out and we were stopped by 2 famililes that I over heard talking about adoption!!! I was happy they stopped us :) Come to find out there were 3 families and they were all adopting.  We exchanged blogs, room numbers, and a few words, and were on our way! More on them later!

We had to meet our guide Shi Shi at 11 to exchange our currency at the bank down the street, of course that meant another walk! Ugh I really do dread walking down the street and for very good reasons, I can't read Shi Shi's mind - she just stops and were supposed to follow suit, however Jillian and I almost got hit by a car today because my telepathy was lacking....  But we made it and got our hands full of some Yuan.  We then went back to our room to prepare the gifts for the nannies and eat some lunch before our trip to meet Jackzhen.

While back at our room we got a phone call from Deanna, she was one of the ladies we met at breakfast.  She said that her and another family were going to meet for prayer at 2:45 before we all left to get our kids! She was wondering if we wanted to join them! OF COURSE we love to I told her!!! So we went upstairs.  I am so excited that God continues to put his fingerprints on this adoption! They were just what we needed this week to help us feel a little more at home!

 Our driver met us at 3:00 and we were on our way! We arrived at office at 3:15 and there were already kids there! My heart sank, I didn't have my camera ready, what if it was Jackzhen? We slowly walked in and quickly saw that it was a few little girls, who were all bundled up ready for the dead of winter! Keeping in mind the weather here is very close to Florida, warm and humid! We walked into the huge buidling with cathedral like ceilings and a ginormous ornate chandelier hanging down! We walked up the winding staircase to get a better look at the door! We watched as children arrived and families arrived.  I fought back tears as I watched those little girls cry the moment they saw their mommy's! OH so heartbreaking, the reality of adoption here in China! I was just praying that those months of praying and packages would pay off for Jackzhen, that he would have a small recollection of who the heck we were! That is when I heard Jason say, there he is, there is Jackzhen!!! WHERE???? I screamed??? He was walking in, in the arms of the assistant director of the orphanage.  Her name is Li Bing and she is the one that got us all of the pictures that we have been enjoying for 9 months! She tried pointing up to where we were but he could not find us! She then started walking up the stairs, and we walked down, I was about to hyperventilate, Madison led the way!!! There we were at the bottom of the stairs staring into the big brown eyes of a beautiful little boy! He was no longer a flat 4x6 piece of paper, he was here, and we were mesmerized! I put my hand out for a high five and he game me a big one! It made him smile! He then proceeded to give each of us a high five! Then he turned around and tried running out the door! It was okay though, he liked us for second, and he didn't CRY!!!   Li Bing got him back and he held Madison's hand as he walked up the stairs.  We had to go into seperate rooms, all part of the "official process" and within 5 minutes he walked into our room, and walked to us! He stared for a bit and then walked to the couch to sit down.  We spend 15-20 minutes slowly walking around with him, he wasn't sure what was going on, but he did like our lollipop rings we had with us! We opened the book that we sent him at Christmas and he sat on my lap to look at it! The moment our voices came on he would press the stop button and we would all laugh, that made him laugh! The nannies had given Shi Shi all of our paperwork and then they slipped away!!! :(   He didn't notice because he was laughing so much! It was an answer to this mama's prayers.... He was sitting on my lap, laughing, smiling, and happy! I could not have asked for anything more!  That was it, he was in our arms and we were off to the hotel! He sat on Daddy's lap for the trip back, there are no need for car seats in China... I know it sounds dangerous, however if you look out the car window, you will understand why! There is a sea of mope heads.  You will also see a mom riding on the back of a mope head, with her infant in her arms, sooooo daddy's lap in a van will be fine for now!We had dinner at the noodle place down the street and then we came back to the hotel, we still had a happy 3 year old on our hands! We did bath time and prayed, Qiu Qiu said "AMEN!" after I did - what a beautiful sound!!! When we laid him down in his bed, he was scared, he did not want to lay down.  He fell and hit his poor little head on the night stand so I scooped him up and rocked him to sleep! He was sleeping in my arms and although bed time was very sad to witness, he was safe, in my arms, and our first day together was a success!

Can I have your autograph?

It is 1AM here and I am WIDE awake! We are now hours away from meeting Jackzhen!!!! Jillian is awake with me because we both napped from 6-11pm.... So considering I am awake, I thought, why not blog about it.... I can't adequately describe how much we have each been impacted by this process so far, but we have.  From the 9 months of waiting, praying, and waiting some more we were changed, but the amount that we have each changed in the last 3 days is equally as amazing! Jillian has been my little encourager and just what mama needs right now! Madison is our new Mandarin speaker, she keeps telling us how to say things like thank you, hello, good-bye, and reminds me not to speak to them in English!!! WHY that is all I know LOL :)  Mason is our comedian, mostly because of his astonishment by what is going on around him, but also because everything turns into a reenactment with his hands afterwards! I really can't imagine not having the kids here, so glad we made that decision at the beginning of this process!

While out with our guide, Shi Shi, today she talked to the kids about Jackzhen.  She explained to them how he could act towards them and although we have gone over it with them time and time again, it was good for them to hear it from her too! Speaking of Shi Shi, it was soooo nice meeting her! She is such a breath of fresh air to us.  She picked us up at our hotel room at 3:00 and took us for lunch, we hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours and we were very hungry! When we got to the little restaurant, they looked confused that we wanted to order! She said it was because it was 3:00 and lunch is at 12/1 and dinner is at 5/6 - I thought "you mean they don't eat all day like we do in the US?" haha She ordered us noodles and beef, it was very good and only cost 7$ for our entire family to eat.  The funniest part about lunch were the chopsticks!!! That is all they have to use there (of course) - Mason grabbed the serving spoon because he was NOT about to try and twist noodles around a stick, that boy was hungry!!! I am proud to say that Jason and Madison picked up the chopsticks and gave it a whirl, we all managed to fill our stomachs! We even had left overs!  She then took us to the Peoples Park.  That is a 4 minute walk from the hotel.  It is acres and acres of lakes, trails, trees, and people!!! It will be a perfect distraction for a sweet little 3 year old this week! The kids got to feed koi, learn about the buildings, trees, and we all picked Shi Shi's brain about China and the people! We were stopped a few times for photo ops with the locals, some even took pictures of the kids without asking... interesting to say the least....   Overall the people are all very friendly.  We feel very safe here in Nanning and Shi Shi reminded us that it is safe because only the police have guns! Nice..... haha - Well I started this post in the dark at 1am and now it is 2:30 and everyone is awake with lights on! We are all going to try and lay down to get some shut eye, we are 11.5 hours away from Jackzhen!!!!