At Home

I thought you might like to hear a little update on Jack and the rest of us. Jack has settled in quite nicely. He's so full of joy and affection that he amazes us. He has grasped the words, "I love you," and uses them in the correct context. He is stringing words together to make baby sentences like, "Mama drive van. Go home." He is learning the letters to his name, his colors, and can already count objects to 10. And, boy, does he have a sense of humor! He likes to purposely give me the wrong answers to questions, but his face gives him away each time. He can't help but crack a goofy smile at me. He is learning that he can eat until he is full, and that candy does not really count as a food. ;0) Now, if Jenna would just understand this! He sings his heart out to the all-time Barney classic, "I love you, you love me ..." and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." He really dislikes cheese ... even macaroni and cheese. Go figure.

Jenna is getting used to having another brother, as long as he doesn't touch her stuff! The two of them are very territorial about their belongings. I wonder if it is because of the environment that they came from, or simply because of their age. Maybe both? Jenna likes the role of instructor - instructor of English, instructor of puzzles, instructor of Legos, instructor of ... I think you get the picture. But, Jack is quick to call Jenna to task if she steps out of line. He wags his finger at her while calling her name. She loves that, of course (typed in the font of sarcasm).

Sam is enjoying being the big brother to a brother, and finally getting his wish of getting bunk beds. I think that sleeping in the top bunk will cure him of sleepwalking, don't you? And Lane, who is now affectionately called "Nina" by Jack, is wrapped around this little boy's finger. He is just about the only one who can get a smile out of her in the morning (she's not a morning person-comes with adolescence, I think).

I'm posting a couple pictures taken since we have been home. But before I go, I wanted to leave you with one of those stories that makes you say, "Aww." Jenna fell and hurt herself. Jack, who was busy at the table cutting confetti, dropped everything when he heard her cry. He ran into the bathroom to get her a tissue and proceeded to wipe her tears. He was saying what sounded like comforting words (in Chinese) while stroking her cheeks. Then, he gave her a kiss. O.K., now you can say, "Aww" because we all did!

Reunion - We are home!

We finally made it. What a return trip.

As we wandered around Guangzhou for the last few times we realized that our China journey was coming to a close. I can truly say that last time around we were more melancholy at this point in our journey. This journey has been quite different as it has had more of an "accomplish this mission" feel to it. We have enjoyed each step; though, most steps have been repeats of our journey to bring Jenna into our family. In short, we were very eager to get home and move onto the next phase of our lives. Such a statement is a bit odd to truly consider. We are moving into the next stage of life as we will no longer be adding children to our family, but concentrating on raising on those we have.

As a practical matter - we were sick of eggs & bacon for breakfast every morning, sick of noodles, sick of hearing people slurp their noodles, sick of being "accosted" by sales staff every time we approached a store or restuarant, sick of being stared at, sick of receiving child raising advice from every "grandmotherly" Chinese woman within 15 feet of us, and sick of really hard beds.

The trip home was an experience. There is nothing like international travel at the holidays to squash the good spirits right out of you. We awoke at 5:00 am (China time) on the 24th in Guanzhou to meet our 9:00 am flight. All went well and we said goodbye to our guide - Elvin - who was terrific during the entire process. We landed in Beijing and after transfering to the international terminal via a crowded shuttle bus (with 2 kids and all of our baggage - to be checked and carry-on) we waited in line to check our baggage and receive tickets. And waited, and waited, and waited, and ..... received news that due to the storms in the mid-west that we would not make our connecting flight and staying in a hotel in Chicago would be our fate. As long as we got to an American city we would work it out from there.

We then waited for our plane to arrive, and waited, and waited, and waited ..... as it arrived 3 hours late. We began to get hungry so searched for a place to grab a little something - but all that was available was ...... noodles - we passed. The boarding process was something out of a movie. Chinese nationals everywhere screaming, yelling, shoving, pushing at each other and us trying to get on the plane and stow their carry-on bags - mad house comes close to describing the scene. We all (kids especiallY) actually slept most of the flight - skipping the mid-night snack of noodles and the arrival meal of noodles (please don't offer me noodles for about 3 months - else your life may be in danger).

Arrival into O'hare, through customs - Jack is now a US citizen - and waited to see if we could make the last flight out to Atlanta. And waited, and waited, and waited ..... no go - hotel bound for the night. United put us up in a nice hotel on Christmas eve, we ate room service (hamburgers), slid into soft beds and everyone crashed to sleep until our wake up call. The next morning we made it to the airport, checked-in, with me taking on an unusual role of "complete jerk" with the United staff as I had begun to grow very impatient with inconsistent information and people who clearly did not know what they were talking about. We made it to our plane, had an uneventful ride and met our family at the Atlanta airport about 2:00 pm on Christmas day.

The reunion between Jenna and Jack was very nice to see (caught on video). He clearly recognized her, jumping up and down saying "Wan-Jin, Wan-Jin, Wan-Jin". He craddled her face in his hands and kissed her on the cheek several times. Jenna took it all in stride, but clearly did not recognize him from her time in China. While we were in Guangzhou, one of the sales girls in one of the numerous shops gave Jack a simple bracelet to wear. He wore it everyday and could not be without it. At this reunion meeting, he took off the bracelet and gave it to Jenna (unfortunately, I did not capture that on video).

As we move to adjust our bodies to the time change, celebrate Christmas, open our gifts and eat a great meal, we wish to thank a whole lot of people for helping us through this journey - many of which I will likely unintentionally leave off here. Our guides in China (Cecilia, Steed and Elvin) - all of whom were wonderful and made the trip as comfortable and enjoyable as could be. Al for checking on our house while we were gone. Our neighbors the Wrights for the same. Jim for a ride to the airport early in the morning on the 10th. Nancy who kept me sane at work during much of this process. AGG for allowing me to be away from work for such an extended period. Betty and Patricia who helped us organize a trip around the world in a very short period of time. Mor-mor, Susan and Jim, and Mimi who kept the girls safe and sound while we were away from them. Our many friends at church, at work, around home, through the internet, and all points in between who have listened to us, shared with us, helped us and most importantly, prayed for us and Jack through this journey.

We have finished this mission. I think we prayerfully followed the direction of God to begin and finish this journey, though, we may not have always executed and performed the individual tasks in a manner that glorified Him. My prayer is that if you are reading through this blog and have doubts that the living God walks with us, encourages us, guides us, comforts us - will begin to consider that such doubts are holding you back from a wonderful and unique relationship that He yearns for you to undertake. Please know that without this relationship in my life, I would not have even begun to consider taking on 2 additional children - and I would have missed 2 wonderful gifts and countless blessings in my life. Consider the events articulated in this blog and really ask yourself if these events could merely be coincidence. Please feel free to contact me should you ever want to discuss the reason for the hope that I have and I promise to do so in a respectful manner.

Our family is now complete. We move on from here with prayerful hope that we live our lives for Him. Ups and downs will come and through it all we will love Jack with all our might as he is a part of our family as if he arrived by the stork. We are the fortunate ones.

Jack is now home.

Exhale

While visiting the zoo this morning, our guide received a call from his colleague to let him and us know that our paperwork "passed" the consulate. Now, I feel like I can truly exhale - my journey with adoption paperwork is, for the most part, over. Tomorrow we will travel to the consulate to take our oath and receive Jack's Chinese passport and the brown envelope.

We had trouble with our computer yesterday and couldn't post or answer e-mails, but with a little tinkering, my husband got it to work this a.m. Yesterday we visited a temple and witnessed monks and nuns doing some kind of ritual, as well as a monk leading a group of believers in a class. Interestingly enough, the monks have entered the 20th century - the monk leading the class was using powerpoint. We took the boys to a local park and to the Swan Room to play. They are getting along well, but I can tell that Sam is ready to go home. He misses his sisters. Jack, while sometimes mischievous, is adjusting well to his new family. We've had a few time outs, and he seems to be beginning to understand the concept. As with Jenna, Jack will need to learn volume control. He announces to the entire White Swan restaurant that he needs to go to the bathroom, usually to the accompaniment of light laughter of nearby people. He'll even wake up in the middle of the night and call it out. We've gotten used to it now, but the first night, it scared the life out of his sleeping family! We finished off the day with a little Papa John's Pizza - a little taste of home.

This will probably be the last post in China, unless Dan downloads some more pictures or can't sleep tonight and decides to blog. In any case, it will be my last post here. We are looking forward to getting home to the girls, but not to the travel. Hopefully, there will be no delays at the airports. Thanks for joining us - all of your comments have meant the world to us!

More Pictures

AAHHH ... the White Swan

We are here! We got into our room about 11:30 last night and crashed. Yesterday, Steed took us to a Lanzhou pizza place for lunch and then we went to a park so the boys could run off some energy. Our flight was to leave at 7:45, so by the time we were approaching the airport we had worked up an appetite and were tired. We got stuck in a little traffic on the way there and had the opportunity to witness local Muslims getting out of their cars with their mats so that they could pray. By the time we arrived at the airport, we were running just a little bit late, so Steed dropped us off and left to park the car. As we made our way into the surprisingly crowded airport, we noticed that the majority of people were Muslims, evident to us by the white caps that they wear. As we waited for Steed, the crowd began to grow to about 50 people. Being an American surrounded by so many Muslims in a foreign country in a post 9/11 world was, I'll honestly admit, a little disconcerting. Sam was somewhat overwhelmed for a bit, but took it in stride and waved and greeted some of the children who peered around their mothers. Boy, we were glad to see Steed come through the doors. Without us saying anything, he assured us that they were just curious about us and understood that there was a difference in their dislike for our president and their feelings about us. We decided NOT to announce that we had voted for Bush. ;0)

We were unsure how Jack would react to the plane ride. He had become attached to Steed and was sad to leave him. Jack had also shown us that he has, let's just call it, a mischievous side. We had no idea what to expect. Jack, apparently, LOVES airplanes. He was excited beyond words. He kept doing the Home Alone face and saying the Chinese word for airplane (sounds like fee-jee) and doing the sign for it. Of course, we got food, too, which made the trip totally awesome for Jack. He even gave me a thumbs up. I, however, picked the wrong meal. It was sushi, some green gelatinous square, and for a snack - preserved olives. For those of you who know me, I'm not an adventurous eater (primarily due to getting sick last time I was in China) and have to be careful because of my wheat allergy. Danny picked the same meal. Thank goodness for protein bars!!!

Needless to say, we were happy to see the breakfast buffet at the White Swan this a.m.! We met with our guide to go for Jack's medical exam. The facility hadn't changed much - sterile, with a few toys; crowded with adoptive families and their children. Jack was petrified. After the more personal exam, they decided that because he is 5, he needed a vision exam. The two ladies in charge of this procedure, clearly tried to comfort Jack, but he was still upset from what he had just been through. Plus, the exam was to be given in the waiting area. So, it was very chaotic. I assured our guide that our family has an eye doctor that we use that we would take him to. I was told that it was O.K. and that it would just be reported that Jack was uncooperative. A positive note - Jack kept crying for me and had a death grip around my neck afterwards. We are trying to encourage some bonding with Dan, so Baba carried him out of the building. Thank goodness Jack is affectionate and likes to cuddle! Bonding with Dan has been a little slow, primarily, I think, because we have had male guides who are Chinese. How can you compete with that? Having been through this before we know -it will come.

Jack, it appears, has an Italian accent! Eat is "Eatsa." Thank you is "Sanka you." Don't touch (believe me - we need this one!) is "No toucha." Cute.

Well, we're off for a day of shopping! We miss you, girls!

Exploring More of Lanzhou

With me feeling better today we were able to venture out into Lanzhou. Our first stop was the Gansu Province natural history museum. We saw dinosaur and mammoth skeletons, a great deal of pottery, replicas of past Chinese civilizations, ancient jewelry, tools and carvings. It was interesting for us and something to do for the kids. There was a place in the pottery wing where on the wall was a picture of a piece of pottery which was composed of 9 tiles attached to the wall by magnets. One takes down the tiles, mixes them up and the child places them back up correctly to form the picture. Prompted by Steed, Sam began the task of assembling the first picture. A few Chinese people began to form a loose crowd around him to watch the “little boy”. He had such a good time that he moved onto the next picture, and then a third. On the third I slipped in a 10th tile from a different picture to see if I could slip him up, and to solicit a reaction from the group around us. Smiles and chuckles ensued but Sam could not be stumped. When Sam turned around to see the “crowd” he broke into a big smile, but would not take a bow. He can be a ham, but usually in the confines of more familiar settings.

Next, we drove down a back alley way, got out and walked down this intimidating street - but with Steed around we really feel no trepidation. We strode into an open air market, not designed for tourists, and looked around for a while. When here the last time we had a writing done in Chinese characters of Jenna’s name, birthplace and birth date. This time we had Jack’s, Sam’s and Alana’s done to complete the set. Steed gave Sam and Alana Chinese names which I will describe in a future post. Lane - I had to describe you and your personality to Steed in order to get the name just right ;-).

We moved onto lunch at the oldest and best noodle house in Lanzhou. We ate in a private room - yak beef (yes, yak beef) noodle soup with various appetizers (thinly cut string potatoes, radishes, spicy cabbage, bean sprouts, very crunchy celery) to place in the soup around a large lazy susan in the middle of the table. Steed, our ever-trying to please host, knowing of Michele’s wheat allergy was going to have Michele eat some barbecue before heading into the noodle house. As he approached an outside vendor to grill up some whatever, Michele politely, and probably wisely, declined.

After lunch we moved onto a shopping mall, as Sam wanted to see the toys that Chinese kids play with. The Chinese definitely have the whole marketing thing down. Just about all vertical space, outside and inside, is covered with some sort of advertisement. Signs blaze and blink at night, colorful and sometimes humorous signs catch one’s eye while traveling down a street, and street vendors call out at surprisingly hushed volumes. Subtlety is not an attribute which they have applied in the advertising realm. Anyway, advertising they have in buckets - retail presentation - not so much. The mall consisted of stores with shelves with toys and junk piled on. I mean piled on, not artfully arranged so as to be pleasing to the eye, rather just stacked to take advantage of all available space (somewhat similar to their housing situation). The checkout station in each store consisted of a metal desk, calculator, receipt slips and a pouch to hold the day’s revenue. The larger department stores were somewhat better, but still with more emphasis on space utilization rather than presentation. With the Chinese being all about presentation and saving face in so many areas of their day-to-day lives it was surprising to see such mere utilitarian approach to selling merchandise.

On a funny note. We were walking with Steed through the shopping mall and he happened along a friend. They were talking and catching up. The friend handed him a business card and we moved on. Steed showed me the card and asked if I am familiar with this company “Amway”. I described what a pyramid scheme consisted of and he realized exactly what it was all about. Apparently, such businesses had until very recently been illegal in China but now one can pursue such endeavors. China is changing. Steed told me he was too busy for such things - he is a smart guy.

Anyway, yesterday was a very good day as we were out of the hotel room for several hours getting some “fresh” air. Note: If you look up Lanzhou under Wikitravel http://wikitravel.org/en/Lanzhou , under “DO” you will see “Get out. Really”.

Today, we check out, have a late lunch of Chinese pizza, visit the water-wheel park and lady of Lanzhou statue and make the drive to the airport. Our flight is not until 7:45 pm so today will be a long day, probably not settling into the White Swan until 11:30 or so. Fortunately, I am feeling much better so the trip should be just fine. It will be very interesting to see Jack’s reaction to the whole travel experience. Whenever he has experienced something new, like Playdough, he gets a “Home Alone” expression - hands to the sides of the face, wide eyes and open mouth. Wednesday after his nap, Jack became sad, standing by the bed, working very hard to hold it in, with tears running down his face. He let Michele hold him to help reassure him that everything would be alright. In attempt to comfort him we showed him the pictures that the orphanage director left with us, but this seemed only to increase the tears - no sound mind you - only tears. Fortunately, a bath was in order and he perked up, looking forward to putting on his pajamas and sleeping in his inflatable "Cars" bed.

It will be a sad departure from Lanzhou as this very likely be the last time we visit this city in the center of China. Both visits have had their ups and downs, and each with their particular memories. Not being able to visit the orphanage to see where Jack and Jenna spent so much time is a real disappointment. We will miss Steed - our guide who has been so gracious, welcoming and attentive to us. We had a rare opportunity to see someone familiar in China - to visit and discuss previous times - what a treat. Steed is the man of Lanzhou. He is great with kids, expert at the paperwork and bureaucratic maneuvering, terrific host, caring individual - a man with a big heart. We plan to continue a long distance relationship with Steed via email and hope one day to see him again.

Hope all is well back home.

Blessings.

Pictures (In reverse chronological order)

At the Gansu museum





Karate lessons from a Kung-fu master

Frozen pond at the Five Springs Park

Jack Zack Attack!

It's great to be a Georgia Bulldog!

Anyone need chopsticks lessons?

Jack and his Mom.

The boys getting shut-eye

Our first walk with Jack - about 30 minutes after meeting him.

A dragon hotel.

Making a silk comforter

About to become complete men - by scaling the Great Wall

For luck!

Sam burning off steam!

The intertwined tree at the garden in the Forbbiden City

Noodle House

Cold - so - cold!!