We've been home a week now, and praise be to God, the transition has been extremely smooth. Jonathan is dearly loved by his sisters, and he has made our house his own. Our only real challenge is at night. Jonathan is TERRIFIED of being in his room alone. I guess this comes from being brought up in an orphanage and sharing his room with 20 brothers and sisters. Scott and I let him sleep with us for the first few nights, but the little guy cries in his sleep and tosses and turns like no one I've ever seen. We have been kicked in the face and head-butted in the wee hours more times than I can count! He will do several 360s throughout the evening. We never know where his head and feet will be facing each morning. Now that Scott is back at work, I have started sleeping with Jonathan in his room. I've moved his toddler bed up against the side of the twin bed. He won't fall asleep unless he's lying directly next to me or he's holding my hand. Poor little thing; I can't imagine what he's been through in his little life before us. We pray his nightmares will soon end and he can learn to fall asleep comfortably by himself. Until that time, I am his new roommate!
Jonathan went to his first church service Christmas Eve. We had every intention of going Sunday morning the 23rd, but because of our sleeping arrangements (Jonathan was still 'sleeping' with Scott and I), we didn't even wake up until 10:30! We've never slept that late!!! Anyway, our church family welcomed him with much love. He did great. He really likes being around people.
The girls, Jonathan, and I are going to drive up to the sled hill today. The girls will inner tube and try snowboarding while Jonathan and I hang out in the lodge. I still need to buy him some snow boots.
Scott had a wonderful revelation about Jonathan and the whole adoption process. He likened our adopting Jonathan to God's adopting us. Jonathan did not get brought to us, we went to him in his loneliness and great need to rescue him. God does the same thing with His children. We don't come to him in our loneliness and desperation, He initiates the relationship and rescues us out of our depravity. How awesome is our Lord!!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Finally Home!
Praise God! Praise God! We are finally home after a very, very long 29 hours of traveling. Jonathan did spectacularly well. He whined and cried less than me!! :) Actually, I did almost cry as we were flying over the middle of the Pacific Ocean and went through some horrible turbulence. I thought we were going to crash! I know God is in control of EVERYTHING - including how I'm going to go Home, but I was still scared! Praise God it lasted only about 10 minutes or so.
When we finally touched down in Fairbanks, we were greeted with a -39 temperature. I have never been so happy to feel my nose hairs freeze. We were greeted by Kaylee and Jackie along with several families from our church. I almost cried but was too tired. Jonathan was a little overwhelmed and just kind of stared at everyone. We came home, and he was enthralled with his room and toys. Jackie slept with him in his room later that night while Scott and I fell into our sorely missed SOFT bed with warm flannel sheets. I think I felt a little of what we will feel in Heaven.
Jonathan was a little freaked this morning when he woke up. We didn't get out of bed until 10:00! Kaylee is at school taking two of her finals, and I didn't even hear her leave. Jonathan sat in his toddler chair and ate his first cheerios and milk. He loved them! He is now playing on the living room floor with Jackie. They are playing with large legos.
I've attached a few pictures taken on the trip. I'm going to type out the daily journal I wrote while in China and have that ready if anyone would like a copy. Just email me at watson56@juno.com.
I have NEVER been so happy to be an American as I am now. We truly live in a blessed country!! I'm very thankful for the opportunity to visit China. I learned a lot about their culture. I'm also extremely thankful for my church family and Mom who took care of the girls while we gone and for everyone who prayed for us while were on this trip! We stayed healthy the entire time, and no harm came to us! We are truly blessed. Jonathan is just the sweetest little boy, and I really do love him as if I had given birth to him. He fits into our family perfectly! I love how God knew about Jonathan being a Watson before we ever had thought about adoption. I love that God kept him alive when he was abandoned at 2 days old and led a police officer to him at 4:45 am. I love that his sweet spirit wasn't crushed in the orphanage and that he seems to have been loved and well cared for. I love that he attached to us immediately and lets me hug and kiss on him as much as I want! I love that he will come to me for help, look up at me with those big, brown eyes, and say, "Mama". I am a blessed woman!!!
Thank you all for keeping track of us during this journey and praying for our family. We could not have done this with such victory without you! We LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!
When we finally touched down in Fairbanks, we were greeted with a -39 temperature. I have never been so happy to feel my nose hairs freeze. We were greeted by Kaylee and Jackie along with several families from our church. I almost cried but was too tired. Jonathan was a little overwhelmed and just kind of stared at everyone. We came home, and he was enthralled with his room and toys. Jackie slept with him in his room later that night while Scott and I fell into our sorely missed SOFT bed with warm flannel sheets. I think I felt a little of what we will feel in Heaven.
Jonathan was a little freaked this morning when he woke up. We didn't get out of bed until 10:00! Kaylee is at school taking two of her finals, and I didn't even hear her leave. Jonathan sat in his toddler chair and ate his first cheerios and milk. He loved them! He is now playing on the living room floor with Jackie. They are playing with large legos.
I've attached a few pictures taken on the trip. I'm going to type out the daily journal I wrote while in China and have that ready if anyone would like a copy. Just email me at watson56@juno.com.
I have NEVER been so happy to be an American as I am now. We truly live in a blessed country!! I'm very thankful for the opportunity to visit China. I learned a lot about their culture. I'm also extremely thankful for my church family and Mom who took care of the girls while we gone and for everyone who prayed for us while were on this trip! We stayed healthy the entire time, and no harm came to us! We are truly blessed. Jonathan is just the sweetest little boy, and I really do love him as if I had given birth to him. He fits into our family perfectly! I love how God knew about Jonathan being a Watson before we ever had thought about adoption. I love that God kept him alive when he was abandoned at 2 days old and led a police officer to him at 4:45 am. I love that his sweet spirit wasn't crushed in the orphanage and that he seems to have been loved and well cared for. I love that he attached to us immediately and lets me hug and kiss on him as much as I want! I love that he will come to me for help, look up at me with those big, brown eyes, and say, "Mama". I am a blessed woman!!!
Thank you all for keeping track of us during this journey and praying for our family. We could not have done this with such victory without you! We LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Last Update before our Journey Home
Hallelujuah! We finished our last bit of official adoption business today at the American Consuate in Guangzhoe. We met with about 100 families who are adopting Chinese kids and were given our children's American visas so they can get into the U.S. We were 'sworn in' together which pretty much consisted of us swearing that all the mounds of paperwork we turned in was true and accurate. We received our sealed brown envelopes with all of our official notarized Chinese adoption paperwork to hand over to the US customs when we reach San Francisco. Oh, the joy of finally getting ready to head on home!!
As soon as we give the sealed brown envelope over to US customs and we are able to cross onto 'American Soil' (leave the international security area), Jonathan will be an official U.S. Citizen. This is all very exciting.
We went out for our last group dinner last night to a Thai restaurant called the "Banana Boat". It was something out of Disneyland in that the entire restaurant looked like it was under a huge tree. The ceiling was like the underside of huge branches with green leaves. There were Christmas balls hanging from the branches. All the waiters and waitresses took time out of serving to perform 70s and 80s American songs. They were very, very good! They sung "Fame" and "Let Me Be There" by Olivia Newton John. They also danced and would grab dinerfs to dance with them. One waiter grabbed Jonathan and danced with him & a waitress grabbed me. Being bashful as I am, I hesitantly agreed :). The food was outstanding - Scott was all into the curried chicken which was the only dish I didn't eat because it was too spicy. We just had a blast.
We've all finally tired of Chinese food. Our last supper in China this evening was an 'authentic' Italian restaurant where we were blessed with a delicious bufffet. We are all itching to get home - it has been a very long but wonderful trip. I can hardly wait for Jonathan to meet his sisters! We are going to have a Merry Christmas indeed!
Please keep us in prayer as we leave tommorrow. We will be traveling for about 29 hours on four different planes: Guangzhou to Beijing, Beijing to San Francisco, San Francisco to Seattle, and Seattle to Fairbanks. We leave our hotel tomorrow morning (Dec. 19th) at 6:00 am (1:00 in the afternoon Dec. 18th in Alaska). It is a long journey home, but knowing we're coming home will make it tolerable if not enjoyable. Please pray none of our flights get cancelled and that Jonathan wouldn't get too wrestless. Of course, please keep our safety in your prayers too.
I can't wait to download pictures of Jonathan when we get home. He's so adorable, sweet, and funny. We will see or talk to you all soon!
Love in Christ,
Julie
As soon as we give the sealed brown envelope over to US customs and we are able to cross onto 'American Soil' (leave the international security area), Jonathan will be an official U.S. Citizen. This is all very exciting.
We went out for our last group dinner last night to a Thai restaurant called the "Banana Boat". It was something out of Disneyland in that the entire restaurant looked like it was under a huge tree. The ceiling was like the underside of huge branches with green leaves. There were Christmas balls hanging from the branches. All the waiters and waitresses took time out of serving to perform 70s and 80s American songs. They were very, very good! They sung "Fame" and "Let Me Be There" by Olivia Newton John. They also danced and would grab dinerfs to dance with them. One waiter grabbed Jonathan and danced with him & a waitress grabbed me. Being bashful as I am, I hesitantly agreed :). The food was outstanding - Scott was all into the curried chicken which was the only dish I didn't eat because it was too spicy. We just had a blast.
We've all finally tired of Chinese food. Our last supper in China this evening was an 'authentic' Italian restaurant where we were blessed with a delicious bufffet. We are all itching to get home - it has been a very long but wonderful trip. I can hardly wait for Jonathan to meet his sisters! We are going to have a Merry Christmas indeed!
Please keep us in prayer as we leave tommorrow. We will be traveling for about 29 hours on four different planes: Guangzhou to Beijing, Beijing to San Francisco, San Francisco to Seattle, and Seattle to Fairbanks. We leave our hotel tomorrow morning (Dec. 19th) at 6:00 am (1:00 in the afternoon Dec. 18th in Alaska). It is a long journey home, but knowing we're coming home will make it tolerable if not enjoyable. Please pray none of our flights get cancelled and that Jonathan wouldn't get too wrestless. Of course, please keep our safety in your prayers too.
I can't wait to download pictures of Jonathan when we get home. He's so adorable, sweet, and funny. We will see or talk to you all soon!
Love in Christ,
Julie
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Final process
Wow! What a day!! We flew from Nanjing to Guangzhou last night and arrived at our hotel room at about 10:30 pm. The most noticable difference here is the weather. It is warm and humid. We can keep are jackets & long sleeves packed for the remainder of our trip:).
We got to meet up with our original group at breakfast this morning. Four of us have boys and three of us have girls. They are all completely adorable! This is the best hotel so far - a 5-star. It is 45 stories tall - breakfast is on the top floor. It is a revolving restaurant and reminds me a bit of the Space Needle in Seattle. Guangzhou is much more Americanized, and this is good because we are all getting a bit homesick. We actually broke down this afternoon and ate at Pizza Hut next to the hotel - it was fantastic!
We saw a bizarre and scary thing at the airport last night. We were going through security, and we heard this lady screaming at the airport security policemen. They were over in a little room with the door open. We all kind of looking at Lily wanting to know if everything was OK. She just smiled and said, "It's alright, they're just talking." Well, all the sudden a policeman practically throws this lady inside the room, the door slams, and it sounded like they were beating her! All the sudden, the people in line started yelling at the closed door. I thought there was going to be a riot, and I realized for sure that we were not in America! We were able to pass through quickly, but I wonder what happened to that lady.
We took the bus to an island where there is TONS of shopping. It is also where the medical building is where the kids had to have their physicals before they can get their US Visas. It was chaotic. There were many adoptions groups there. The kiddos had to go to 3 stations, the ENT, the weight & height, and the external examination. It was painless although many kids screamed just because they were scared. Jonathan did great. We are meeting our guide, Rosa in the upstairs conference room in about 1/2 hour to complete about 2 hours of paperwork which will allow us to get Jonathan's US Visa. Rosa goes to the consulate and turns it all in on Monday, and we all go back on Tuesday to complete our final process of adoption - the swearing-in ceremony. Then we pick up the visas and fly out of here on Wednesday!
At this point, we are all ready to get back the great US of A! It will be good to get our kiddos on a regular schedule. I can't begin to tell you how good natures Jonathan is! He's feeling more comfortable with us now and even blessed us with a couple 2-year old temper tantrums :). He is a busy guy, though, and has worn me out. He bonded quickly to me, and is now finally warming up to Scott. The adoption agency warned us that the babies will attach to one parent more than the other at first and it's usually the Mom because they have very little interaction with males in the orphanage. There is one family in our group whose little girl has attached to the Dad, and she won't even let Mom touch her. I feel so bad for that Mom, because that would break my heart. Jonathan lets me hold him, hug him, and kiss him to my heart's content!
Something hilarious happened yesterday. We had to check out of the Nanjing hotel at 2:00, and we weren't leaving for the airport until 4:30. Lily took us to a history museum of Nanjing. CJ (the other adopted boy from Nanjing) threw a complete coniption fit about something, and Marcie (his Mom) decided to take him out of the museum to get some fresh air. He was in a full-out tantrum (CJ is 3 and a half) when Marcie told me later a Chinese lady came up to him, said a few words, and CJ stopped crying immediatly and straightned up. Marcie was in shock. We asked Lily what the lady might have said to him. Lily giggled and told us she probably told CJ that the police would come for him if he didn't stop crying! I guess these kids are scared to death of what the police will do to them - the parents use the threat of them coming to keep the kids in line!
Another funny thing happened. We were waiting for our plane, and we were all very hungary. There was a restauring nearby in the airport, so sat down to order something. Marcie ordered some noodles for CJ, I ordered some noodles for Jonathan and a club sandwich for myself. Well, they brought out these HUGE bowls of noodles with a fried egg floating on top and covered our table with all sorts of food I've never seen before. There were these things that looked like meatballs, but some were green and some were beige. There was salted duck, some green stuff, and the club sandwich was a chinese kind. I'm not sure what was in it, but I didn't recognize a thing! We called Scott and Marcie's father-in-law over and started eating it all. It was delicious, but I have no idea what it was. There was way too much for all of us to eat.
I like Guangzhou alot better than Nanjing. People glared at us alot there. I don't care what Lily says, they were not happy to see us adopting their little ones. It is much different here in Guangzhou. One thing all Chinese people do is dress their little kids way too warm! They have layer upon layer of clothing on. In Nanjing, when we went outside one day, I had Jonathan all dressed warm. I was holding him, and a little bit of his leg was showing between the end of his jeans and the top of his socks. A man came up to me, got angry, and pointed at Jonathan's leg. Then when we went to the museum yesterday afternoon, we had an old man scream at us and bang his cane on the ground because he didn't think the kids were dressed warm enough (they didn't have snow pants on) - it was 45 degrees outside! I thought he was going to cane us!!!
I have a feeling these next few days will fly by. I'm so excited to get home. We miss our girls terribly. You would not believe all the Christmas decorations and Santa Claus pictures they have set up everywhere. All the attendents and waitresses are wearing santa hats. They love the idea of gift giving - and red is a very 'lucky' color - they love Santa. They don't understand that it's 'politically incorrect' in America to say Merry Christmas. I haven't seen one 'happy holidays' sign yet! Praise God!!
Well, I've go to sign off now. I'll write again on Tuesday after our swearing-in ceremonly.
Love to all,
Julie
We got to meet up with our original group at breakfast this morning. Four of us have boys and three of us have girls. They are all completely adorable! This is the best hotel so far - a 5-star. It is 45 stories tall - breakfast is on the top floor. It is a revolving restaurant and reminds me a bit of the Space Needle in Seattle. Guangzhou is much more Americanized, and this is good because we are all getting a bit homesick. We actually broke down this afternoon and ate at Pizza Hut next to the hotel - it was fantastic!
We saw a bizarre and scary thing at the airport last night. We were going through security, and we heard this lady screaming at the airport security policemen. They were over in a little room with the door open. We all kind of looking at Lily wanting to know if everything was OK. She just smiled and said, "It's alright, they're just talking." Well, all the sudden a policeman practically throws this lady inside the room, the door slams, and it sounded like they were beating her! All the sudden, the people in line started yelling at the closed door. I thought there was going to be a riot, and I realized for sure that we were not in America! We were able to pass through quickly, but I wonder what happened to that lady.
We took the bus to an island where there is TONS of shopping. It is also where the medical building is where the kids had to have their physicals before they can get their US Visas. It was chaotic. There were many adoptions groups there. The kiddos had to go to 3 stations, the ENT, the weight & height, and the external examination. It was painless although many kids screamed just because they were scared. Jonathan did great. We are meeting our guide, Rosa in the upstairs conference room in about 1/2 hour to complete about 2 hours of paperwork which will allow us to get Jonathan's US Visa. Rosa goes to the consulate and turns it all in on Monday, and we all go back on Tuesday to complete our final process of adoption - the swearing-in ceremony. Then we pick up the visas and fly out of here on Wednesday!
At this point, we are all ready to get back the great US of A! It will be good to get our kiddos on a regular schedule. I can't begin to tell you how good natures Jonathan is! He's feeling more comfortable with us now and even blessed us with a couple 2-year old temper tantrums :). He is a busy guy, though, and has worn me out. He bonded quickly to me, and is now finally warming up to Scott. The adoption agency warned us that the babies will attach to one parent more than the other at first and it's usually the Mom because they have very little interaction with males in the orphanage. There is one family in our group whose little girl has attached to the Dad, and she won't even let Mom touch her. I feel so bad for that Mom, because that would break my heart. Jonathan lets me hold him, hug him, and kiss him to my heart's content!
Something hilarious happened yesterday. We had to check out of the Nanjing hotel at 2:00, and we weren't leaving for the airport until 4:30. Lily took us to a history museum of Nanjing. CJ (the other adopted boy from Nanjing) threw a complete coniption fit about something, and Marcie (his Mom) decided to take him out of the museum to get some fresh air. He was in a full-out tantrum (CJ is 3 and a half) when Marcie told me later a Chinese lady came up to him, said a few words, and CJ stopped crying immediatly and straightned up. Marcie was in shock. We asked Lily what the lady might have said to him. Lily giggled and told us she probably told CJ that the police would come for him if he didn't stop crying! I guess these kids are scared to death of what the police will do to them - the parents use the threat of them coming to keep the kids in line!
Another funny thing happened. We were waiting for our plane, and we were all very hungary. There was a restauring nearby in the airport, so sat down to order something. Marcie ordered some noodles for CJ, I ordered some noodles for Jonathan and a club sandwich for myself. Well, they brought out these HUGE bowls of noodles with a fried egg floating on top and covered our table with all sorts of food I've never seen before. There were these things that looked like meatballs, but some were green and some were beige. There was salted duck, some green stuff, and the club sandwich was a chinese kind. I'm not sure what was in it, but I didn't recognize a thing! We called Scott and Marcie's father-in-law over and started eating it all. It was delicious, but I have no idea what it was. There was way too much for all of us to eat.
I like Guangzhou alot better than Nanjing. People glared at us alot there. I don't care what Lily says, they were not happy to see us adopting their little ones. It is much different here in Guangzhou. One thing all Chinese people do is dress their little kids way too warm! They have layer upon layer of clothing on. In Nanjing, when we went outside one day, I had Jonathan all dressed warm. I was holding him, and a little bit of his leg was showing between the end of his jeans and the top of his socks. A man came up to me, got angry, and pointed at Jonathan's leg. Then when we went to the museum yesterday afternoon, we had an old man scream at us and bang his cane on the ground because he didn't think the kids were dressed warm enough (they didn't have snow pants on) - it was 45 degrees outside! I thought he was going to cane us!!!
I have a feeling these next few days will fly by. I'm so excited to get home. We miss our girls terribly. You would not believe all the Christmas decorations and Santa Claus pictures they have set up everywhere. All the attendents and waitresses are wearing santa hats. They love the idea of gift giving - and red is a very 'lucky' color - they love Santa. They don't understand that it's 'politically incorrect' in America to say Merry Christmas. I haven't seen one 'happy holidays' sign yet! Praise God!!
Well, I've go to sign off now. I'll write again on Tuesday after our swearing-in ceremonly.
Love to all,
Julie
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Update
I'm finally to get an internet connection in Nanjing. I don't know how long it will last, so I'm going to type quickly.
When we flew out of Beijing Monday morning, there was a 4-hour delay because of a snowstorm. We were supposed to get to Nanjing by 10:00 or so, check into the hotel, have lunch, and then go get Jonathan at the adoption center at 1:30, but because of the delay, we didn't touch down in Nanjing until 12:45. By the time we got our luggage and found our driver, it was after 1:00. We were still a little under an hour away from the adoption center, so when we got, the kids were already waiting for us. We didn't know what to exect. WE walked into this run-down business building. To the left of us were double glass doors, and there was Jonathan looking out at us. We recognized him immediately! The first thing we noticed was how BIG he was. We were expecting him to be very small, but he's a little bruiser! He's very active, good natured, and smart. He took to Scott and I immediately. The orphanage director and the director of Children's Serviced for the Yangzhou district (where Jonathan's orphanage is - about 100 Kilometers from the Adoption Center) were there and had taught Jonathan to say 'Mama" and 'Papa'. He sat on my lap and gave me a kiss! The trasition was very smooth. Jonathan laughed and played with us, and he did not cry at all. We did some paperwork and went upstairs to have our 'family picture' taken for the adoption certificate. We then took the van to the hotel to check in.
The hotel we're staying in is even nicer than the one in Beijing! We spent the rest of the day getting to know Jonathan and having fun in our room.
The next day, we went back to the adoption center to finalize the paperwork. When we got there, other families were being united with their adopted children like we were the day before. A little girls started squeeling when she saw Jonathan. They gave each other a hug, and it turns out they are from the same orphanage! Then Jonathan ran up to another little girl about his age and hugged her. She was one of his roomates!! It was so precious seeing these kids reunited and getting adopted. I almost started bawling.
Scott and I met with a government official who asked us why we were adopting and why from China. They then had us sign some paperwork, and we had to put our thumbprint on top of our signatures. We paid the paperwork and orphanage fees, and it was official. Jonathan is now our son in the eyes of the Chinese government!
It is Thursday today, and we are going to do some more sightseeing. We will get the notarized copies of our adoption paperwork tomorrow and fly to Ghuanzhou to deal with the US government paperwork so Jonathan can get a visa into our country. This has been a wonderful journey, and God has blessed us more than I can even tell you.
I have been keeping a daily journal about all of our experiences here and the Chinese culture and traditions. When I get back, I will type it all up and email it to anyone who is interested.
I'll try to write more later. Please keep us in your prayers. We have stayed healthy this first week in China, and Jonathan is healthy too. Many kids come out of the orphanage sick. We have been truly blessed!
In Christ's Name,
Julie
When we flew out of Beijing Monday morning, there was a 4-hour delay because of a snowstorm. We were supposed to get to Nanjing by 10:00 or so, check into the hotel, have lunch, and then go get Jonathan at the adoption center at 1:30, but because of the delay, we didn't touch down in Nanjing until 12:45. By the time we got our luggage and found our driver, it was after 1:00. We were still a little under an hour away from the adoption center, so when we got, the kids were already waiting for us. We didn't know what to exect. WE walked into this run-down business building. To the left of us were double glass doors, and there was Jonathan looking out at us. We recognized him immediately! The first thing we noticed was how BIG he was. We were expecting him to be very small, but he's a little bruiser! He's very active, good natured, and smart. He took to Scott and I immediately. The orphanage director and the director of Children's Serviced for the Yangzhou district (where Jonathan's orphanage is - about 100 Kilometers from the Adoption Center) were there and had taught Jonathan to say 'Mama" and 'Papa'. He sat on my lap and gave me a kiss! The trasition was very smooth. Jonathan laughed and played with us, and he did not cry at all. We did some paperwork and went upstairs to have our 'family picture' taken for the adoption certificate. We then took the van to the hotel to check in.
The hotel we're staying in is even nicer than the one in Beijing! We spent the rest of the day getting to know Jonathan and having fun in our room.
The next day, we went back to the adoption center to finalize the paperwork. When we got there, other families were being united with their adopted children like we were the day before. A little girls started squeeling when she saw Jonathan. They gave each other a hug, and it turns out they are from the same orphanage! Then Jonathan ran up to another little girl about his age and hugged her. She was one of his roomates!! It was so precious seeing these kids reunited and getting adopted. I almost started bawling.
Scott and I met with a government official who asked us why we were adopting and why from China. They then had us sign some paperwork, and we had to put our thumbprint on top of our signatures. We paid the paperwork and orphanage fees, and it was official. Jonathan is now our son in the eyes of the Chinese government!
It is Thursday today, and we are going to do some more sightseeing. We will get the notarized copies of our adoption paperwork tomorrow and fly to Ghuanzhou to deal with the US government paperwork so Jonathan can get a visa into our country. This has been a wonderful journey, and God has blessed us more than I can even tell you.
I have been keeping a daily journal about all of our experiences here and the Chinese culture and traditions. When I get back, I will type it all up and email it to anyone who is interested.
I'll try to write more later. Please keep us in your prayers. We have stayed healthy this first week in China, and Jonathan is healthy too. Many kids come out of the orphanage sick. We have been truly blessed!
In Christ's Name,
Julie
Monday, December 10, 2007
Hi Everyone!
Hi Everyone!
Sorry it's taken so long to update our blog. I'm not able to connect with blogspot here at the hotel, so I'm emailing it to Kaylee and she's updating our blog. We've only been here two full days, and we've accompished a week's worth of sightseeing and eating! My pants are already getting tight on me!!
The flight here was very long (a total of about 20 hours travel time from when we left Fairbanks), but it was smooth. We were picked up at Beijing Airport by our guide, Rosa. She is an amazing woman who has taught us alot about Chinese culture. We are staying at a beautiful hotel. Beijing is home to about 17 million people. It is a huge ciy. People here are very friendly and like to take pictures and stare at us foreigers. The traffic here is something I can't really describe because I've never seen anything like it. It is worse than DC traffic, but there is no road rage or anger. The Chinese people are very laid back, but they make five lanes out of three-lane roads. Add into the mix the myriad of people riding their bikes along the side of the highway (with no helmets) along with regular pedestrians crossing the street in front of the moving vehicles, and it that about wraps up Beijing traffic. It is crazy. We just all sit in the bus and stare at our driver in awe. We have literally come within an inch of hitting cars and people. It's just 'business as usual' for them.
One thing that is very different (there are many - I'll tell you about the Chinese toilets later), is the beds. Chinese people like firm matresses, but I"m telling you. It feels like I"m sleeping on a hard-wood floor! The first morning I woke up, I could hardly move!! Last night was better, though. OK, now to the toilets. The one's in this hotel are the same as the US - you get to sit down. When you go out and about, though, it's a different situation. We were at the forbidden city, and I went into the public restroom. The smell was the first thing that caught me off guard. I walked into the bathroom where there were rows of stalls on each side of the walls. The stall doors go from the ceiling to the floor. They were all in use at that time, and I was watching two women using squeejee brooms and pushing about a half-inch of urine from the middle of the floor to the outside. It wasn't like the toilet ovrflowed & the urine was mixed with water - it was pure pee. Once a stall opened, I went in. To my surprise there was no toilet. There was a hole in the floor that was covered with white porceline. On each side of the hole was a grooved place to place your feet. There were no bars to hand onto on the sides of the stall, you are expected to simply squat and do your business. There is no toilet paper. As I have never been one to have good balance, you can believe I was praying hard that I would not fall over on my side while attempting to squat and get up again. All I can say is it was an experience I will not soon forget!
Yesterday was very fun. We toured the Forbidden City (it's named that because the Emporers of the last dynasty lived there and the common people were not allowed in). We also toured the Emporers' Summer Palace which was just beautiful. We went to the pearl factory and learned all about the different kinds and qualities of pearls. The food we've been eating is fantastic! It's delicious! It's more than I had expected. This trip is amazing, and I can hardly believe how blessed we are to be here.
Today was my favorite. We were able to go to church and worship God with all kinds of Sisters and Brothers from all over the world. IT was a bilingual service. The pastor was Chinese, and there was an interpreter. There were hundreds of foreigners at church. The praise band was outstanding. The children put on a little Christmas program, and it is how I imagine Heaven - people of all tribes & tongues worshipping our Father. We had to show copies of our passports to get into the service because it is only for foreigners. Chinese nationals are not allowed into the Christian service.
After church we went to lunch and then to the Great Wall of China! I asked if we would be able to touch it, and our guide said we were going to climb it!!! WOW! It was about 20 degrees with the wind chill, but Scott and I climbed as far as you could go. It was so steep! My legs were shaking by the time we made it to the top, but it was an experience I will never forget. I kept having to tell myself that I was in China climbing the Great Wall because I still feel like I'm dreaming.
The funniest thing here are the 'vendors'. They wait until you get off the bus and bombard you with their items. If you make eye contact,that's it. They will follow you for a really long time pushing what they are selling in your face. I did buy a couple things over the past few days. They like to barter. When we were coming down from the Great Wall, a lady came up and said she would engrave my name in this mini plaque that said I climed the Great Wall. She said it would by 180 yen (about 25 dollars US money), and I got her down to 20 yen (about 2.50). That was fun.
After we climed the Wall, we went out to a famous Peking Duck Dinner. It was incredible! The food was mouth-watering. Do you know that the Chinese don't eat fortune cookies? That is an American tradition. When I asked our guide where our fortune cookie was after dinner last night, she thought I was asking where I could get my fortune read! She didn't know anything about the American tradition of serving fortune cookies after a meal.
We are with five other families. Tomorrow morning at 5:30 am we will leave Beijing and fly to our provinces where we are getting our kiddos. One other family and Scott & I are flying to Nanjing. We will be getting Jonathan in about 16 hours! This doesn't even seem real.
This trip is amazing, and we are having so much fun. I love China. I don't know what I was expecting - it certainly wasn't this. Beijing as far exceeded my expectations. God is simply awesome in His creativity in making us different yet the same. That's about it for now. I'll write more tomorrow from Nanjing.
Sorry it's taken so long to update our blog. I'm not able to connect with blogspot here at the hotel, so I'm emailing it to Kaylee and she's updating our blog. We've only been here two full days, and we've accompished a week's worth of sightseeing and eating! My pants are already getting tight on me!!
The flight here was very long (a total of about 20 hours travel time from when we left Fairbanks), but it was smooth. We were picked up at Beijing Airport by our guide, Rosa. She is an amazing woman who has taught us alot about Chinese culture. We are staying at a beautiful hotel. Beijing is home to about 17 million people. It is a huge ciy. People here are very friendly and like to take pictures and stare at us foreigers. The traffic here is something I can't really describe because I've never seen anything like it. It is worse than DC traffic, but there is no road rage or anger. The Chinese people are very laid back, but they make five lanes out of three-lane roads. Add into the mix the myriad of people riding their bikes along the side of the highway (with no helmets) along with regular pedestrians crossing the street in front of the moving vehicles, and it that about wraps up Beijing traffic. It is crazy. We just all sit in the bus and stare at our driver in awe. We have literally come within an inch of hitting cars and people. It's just 'business as usual' for them.
One thing that is very different (there are many - I'll tell you about the Chinese toilets later), is the beds. Chinese people like firm matresses, but I"m telling you. It feels like I"m sleeping on a hard-wood floor! The first morning I woke up, I could hardly move!! Last night was better, though. OK, now to the toilets. The one's in this hotel are the same as the US - you get to sit down. When you go out and about, though, it's a different situation. We were at the forbidden city, and I went into the public restroom. The smell was the first thing that caught me off guard. I walked into the bathroom where there were rows of stalls on each side of the walls. The stall doors go from the ceiling to the floor. They were all in use at that time, and I was watching two women using squeejee brooms and pushing about a half-inch of urine from the middle of the floor to the outside. It wasn't like the toilet ovrflowed & the urine was mixed with water - it was pure pee. Once a stall opened, I went in. To my surprise there was no toilet. There was a hole in the floor that was covered with white porceline. On each side of the hole was a grooved place to place your feet. There were no bars to hand onto on the sides of the stall, you are expected to simply squat and do your business. There is no toilet paper. As I have never been one to have good balance, you can believe I was praying hard that I would not fall over on my side while attempting to squat and get up again. All I can say is it was an experience I will not soon forget!
Yesterday was very fun. We toured the Forbidden City (it's named that because the Emporers of the last dynasty lived there and the common people were not allowed in). We also toured the Emporers' Summer Palace which was just beautiful. We went to the pearl factory and learned all about the different kinds and qualities of pearls. The food we've been eating is fantastic! It's delicious! It's more than I had expected. This trip is amazing, and I can hardly believe how blessed we are to be here.
Today was my favorite. We were able to go to church and worship God with all kinds of Sisters and Brothers from all over the world. IT was a bilingual service. The pastor was Chinese, and there was an interpreter. There were hundreds of foreigners at church. The praise band was outstanding. The children put on a little Christmas program, and it is how I imagine Heaven - people of all tribes & tongues worshipping our Father. We had to show copies of our passports to get into the service because it is only for foreigners. Chinese nationals are not allowed into the Christian service.
After church we went to lunch and then to the Great Wall of China! I asked if we would be able to touch it, and our guide said we were going to climb it!!! WOW! It was about 20 degrees with the wind chill, but Scott and I climbed as far as you could go. It was so steep! My legs were shaking by the time we made it to the top, but it was an experience I will never forget. I kept having to tell myself that I was in China climbing the Great Wall because I still feel like I'm dreaming.
The funniest thing here are the 'vendors'. They wait until you get off the bus and bombard you with their items. If you make eye contact,that's it. They will follow you for a really long time pushing what they are selling in your face. I did buy a couple things over the past few days. They like to barter. When we were coming down from the Great Wall, a lady came up and said she would engrave my name in this mini plaque that said I climed the Great Wall. She said it would by 180 yen (about 25 dollars US money), and I got her down to 20 yen (about 2.50). That was fun.
After we climed the Wall, we went out to a famous Peking Duck Dinner. It was incredible! The food was mouth-watering. Do you know that the Chinese don't eat fortune cookies? That is an American tradition. When I asked our guide where our fortune cookie was after dinner last night, she thought I was asking where I could get my fortune read! She didn't know anything about the American tradition of serving fortune cookies after a meal.
We are with five other families. Tomorrow morning at 5:30 am we will leave Beijing and fly to our provinces where we are getting our kiddos. One other family and Scott & I are flying to Nanjing. We will be getting Jonathan in about 16 hours! This doesn't even seem real.
This trip is amazing, and we are having so much fun. I love China. I don't know what I was expecting - it certainly wasn't this. Beijing as far exceeded my expectations. God is simply awesome in His creativity in making us different yet the same. That's about it for now. I'll write more tomorrow from Nanjing.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
THIS IS IT!!!
In just 14 short hours we will start our journey to China! We had a conference call with our adoption agency yesterday with six other families who will be getting their babies too. This is our itinerary:
Dec. 7-9: Stay in Beijing at a REALLY NICE hotel. We were able to access it on the web. All the hotels we will be staying in are supposed to be 4 and 5 stars. While in Beijing, we will do alot of sightseeing (Tianamen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall, a Chinese acrobatic show, and a famous Beijing Duck Dinner). We are able to go to a Christian church service on Sunday morning. It is specifically for foreigners. We have to show our passport when we go into the service because Chinese nationals are forbidden to attend. The service will be in Chinese and translated into English. I'm so excited to experience that!
Dec. 10-13: This is the point where all the families traveling together who all stayed in Beijing will scatter across China to different provinces to get their children. We are going to Nanjing in the Jiangsu Province. We will get Jonathan the afternoon of the 10th and spend a few days in Nanjing doing adoption paperwork, sight-seeing, and shopping.
Dec. 14-18: All the families meet up again in Guangzhou where Jonathan will have a medical exam, we will fill out Consulate forms so Jonathan can get his US visa, we will go to another church service for foreigners and pick up Jonathan's visa.
Dec. 19: We fly home!!!!
This is all a little surreal to us. We have spent the entire last week preparing. We packed yesterday (Scott and I are only allowed 44 pounds each in check-in baggage). One entire suitcase is filled with gifts for the orphanage, our guides, and Chinese officials we meet with throughout our stay. It is a Chinese custom to give small gifts. We collected a bunch of children's medication from our church family to take with us to the orphanage.
We have no idea how big Jonathan is, whether or not he's potty trained, or if he's still on formula. We are taking clothes of all sizes, diapers, pull-up, underwear, bottles, sippie cups, formula, and everything else he may need. Oh boy, this is exciting! We bought a digital video camera for the trip and will be able to capture the moment we see Jonathan for the first time. We have no idea how he will react to us. Kristen, the lady who is in charge of all of our travel arrangements, said that depending on what province we go to (if it is remote or not), most of the citizens may not have seen a Caucasian before. She told us to be prepared for a lot of staring and people wanting to take pictures with us. The adoption agency will give us card to give people written in Chinese explaining why we are there. This is going to be wild!!
Well, we still have some last-minute things to do, so I'm going to sign off. We will update the blog in China. Most of the hotels we are staying at have a 'business center' with computers and internet access. We will try to download pictures too. Please keep us in your prayers for safe travel, health, and a smooth transition for our son.
Thanks so much for all your prayer support! We could not do this without you.
Dec. 7-9: Stay in Beijing at a REALLY NICE hotel. We were able to access it on the web. All the hotels we will be staying in are supposed to be 4 and 5 stars. While in Beijing, we will do alot of sightseeing (Tianamen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall, a Chinese acrobatic show, and a famous Beijing Duck Dinner). We are able to go to a Christian church service on Sunday morning. It is specifically for foreigners. We have to show our passport when we go into the service because Chinese nationals are forbidden to attend. The service will be in Chinese and translated into English. I'm so excited to experience that!
Dec. 10-13: This is the point where all the families traveling together who all stayed in Beijing will scatter across China to different provinces to get their children. We are going to Nanjing in the Jiangsu Province. We will get Jonathan the afternoon of the 10th and spend a few days in Nanjing doing adoption paperwork, sight-seeing, and shopping.
Dec. 14-18: All the families meet up again in Guangzhou where Jonathan will have a medical exam, we will fill out Consulate forms so Jonathan can get his US visa, we will go to another church service for foreigners and pick up Jonathan's visa.
Dec. 19: We fly home!!!!
This is all a little surreal to us. We have spent the entire last week preparing. We packed yesterday (Scott and I are only allowed 44 pounds each in check-in baggage). One entire suitcase is filled with gifts for the orphanage, our guides, and Chinese officials we meet with throughout our stay. It is a Chinese custom to give small gifts. We collected a bunch of children's medication from our church family to take with us to the orphanage.
We have no idea how big Jonathan is, whether or not he's potty trained, or if he's still on formula. We are taking clothes of all sizes, diapers, pull-up, underwear, bottles, sippie cups, formula, and everything else he may need. Oh boy, this is exciting! We bought a digital video camera for the trip and will be able to capture the moment we see Jonathan for the first time. We have no idea how he will react to us. Kristen, the lady who is in charge of all of our travel arrangements, said that depending on what province we go to (if it is remote or not), most of the citizens may not have seen a Caucasian before. She told us to be prepared for a lot of staring and people wanting to take pictures with us. The adoption agency will give us card to give people written in Chinese explaining why we are there. This is going to be wild!!
Well, we still have some last-minute things to do, so I'm going to sign off. We will update the blog in China. Most of the hotels we are staying at have a 'business center' with computers and internet access. We will try to download pictures too. Please keep us in your prayers for safe travel, health, and a smooth transition for our son.
Thanks so much for all your prayer support! We could not do this without you.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Flying out on December 6th!
It's all really starting to happen now. We have our flight itinerary. We fly out of Fairbanks at 1:30 am on Thursday the 6th. We stop very quickly in Seattle and San Francisco, then it's straight to Beijing. It's a 12 1/2 hour flight, so please remember me in your prayers that day...... I'm not a fan of flying - especially over cold, dark oceans :).
We have been going 100 miles-an-hour trying to get everything ready before Thursday. We have places for the girls to stay during the first week, and my Mom is flying up to stay with the them the 2nd week we're gone. I feel bad because all the flights leaving Fairbanks on the 20th and 21st are full (she needs to be home on the 21st), so she has to leave the morning of the 19th. We come home the evening of the 19th, so she's not going to be able to see Jonathan!!!
These past seven weeks have been incredible. The adoption process up until then took such a long time (we put in our application to adopt in February 2005), but God has expedited every step since we received our referral for Jonathan October 5th. In just 10 days, Scott and I will be holding our son! Talk about the amazing grace of our Father; we are experiencing it first-hand.
For all you prayer warriors out there, please print these specific requests out and pray for them as God brings us to your mind:
Safety for the girls while we're gone. Kaylee's going to be driving alot in the ice up here, and we have never been away from them for so long. Pray Scott and I will not be anxious about their well-being.
Safe travel for us.
That we would remain healthy while in China.
A quick bonding experience with Jonathan. We are already bonded to him, but our little guy doesn't know us yet, and the transition will be challenging for him.
An opportunity to be the light of Jesus every place we go and with every person we meet.
Protection from harm and/or theft.
Safe travel for my Mom.
Blessings on the Baxters and Kolmorgens who are watching the girls.
We love you all!!!
We have been going 100 miles-an-hour trying to get everything ready before Thursday. We have places for the girls to stay during the first week, and my Mom is flying up to stay with the them the 2nd week we're gone. I feel bad because all the flights leaving Fairbanks on the 20th and 21st are full (she needs to be home on the 21st), so she has to leave the morning of the 19th. We come home the evening of the 19th, so she's not going to be able to see Jonathan!!!
These past seven weeks have been incredible. The adoption process up until then took such a long time (we put in our application to adopt in February 2005), but God has expedited every step since we received our referral for Jonathan October 5th. In just 10 days, Scott and I will be holding our son! Talk about the amazing grace of our Father; we are experiencing it first-hand.
For all you prayer warriors out there, please print these specific requests out and pray for them as God brings us to your mind:
Safety for the girls while we're gone. Kaylee's going to be driving alot in the ice up here, and we have never been away from them for so long. Pray Scott and I will not be anxious about their well-being.
Safe travel for us.
That we would remain healthy while in China.
A quick bonding experience with Jonathan. We are already bonded to him, but our little guy doesn't know us yet, and the transition will be challenging for him.
An opportunity to be the light of Jesus every place we go and with every person we meet.
Protection from harm and/or theft.
Safe travel for my Mom.
Blessings on the Baxters and Kolmorgens who are watching the girls.
We love you all!!!
Monday, November 26, 2007
Travel Acceptance Received!
At 10:06 AM Alaska Time, we received a phone call from America World telling us they had received our travel acceptance from China, and we will be leaving December 6th to get Jonathan! What an answer to prayer!! I had spent some time with God in prayer this morning asking Him to let us get a phone call today about our travel dates. I was working with Jackie on a science project when my cell phone rang. I jumped up in complete anticipation and practically did back flips when it was our adoption agency. Jackie and I were screaming and high-fiving each other.
Our agency just needs to confirm a consulate appointment date for us, then we will receive our itinerary. God has been so incredibly faithful through this entire process. We will have Jonathan home before Christmas! There really are no words to adequately describe our thankfulness and joy.
I'll update the blog when we receive our itinerary. For now, we have plenty things to keep us busy as we are leaving in 10 days! PRAISE GOD!!!!
Our agency just needs to confirm a consulate appointment date for us, then we will receive our itinerary. God has been so incredibly faithful through this entire process. We will have Jonathan home before Christmas! There really are no words to adequately describe our thankfulness and joy.
I'll update the blog when we receive our itinerary. For now, we have plenty things to keep us busy as we are leaving in 10 days! PRAISE GOD!!!!
Monday, November 19, 2007
November 19, 2007
We are still waiting to find out our travel dates. You know, I love Alaska 99.9 % of the time. When I don't appreciate this remote area is when I need to overnight a referral acceptance letter (RA) to China. Because it takes longer to FEDEX stuff from here, our adoption agency had us mail our signed RA directly to China because by the time we Fedexed it back to Virgina (where America World is located), the other RAs in our group would have already been mailed out to China. They can overnight things to China in Virgina, but it takes 3 days from Alaska which is much closer to China! Anyway, our RA did not arrive with the other group's, so our travel dates may be later in December than we had thought. We'll just have to wait and see. I have to daily (hourly) remind myself that it is God who is in control of when we go to get Jonathan. I can hardly stand being away from him another minute!
I tracked the RA in its process to get to China. It went from Fairbanks to Anchorage to Tennessee, back to Anchorage (this took over a day) and then to China! Sometimes I think it's best not to track packages.
We mailed our passports and visa application forms to our agency, and they are going to take care of getting us our Chinese visas. Please pray the whole process goes smoothly and in a timely manner. Scott is all up-to-date on his shots as he deployed to Saudi earlier this year. I needed to start my Hep A & B series, so I got that done Friday.
We finished Jonathan's room last week! It was so much fun. We played with all the toys when we were done. I've attached some pictures of his room. He has a toddler bed and a twin bed. As far as I know, he's still in a crib at the orphanage. I think moving him to a twin might be too much of a change. We left the twin bed up because I don't know how he's going to react to his room. He's used to being surrounded by kids in the orphanage, and he may need someone to sleep in his room for a little while. The problem will come in deciding who gets to sleep in his room. We may just cram all four of us in there!
This waiting is excruciating. Please pray we will stay focussed on God and His will, not ours. Talk to you soon!
Blessings & Love,
Julie
I tracked the RA in its process to get to China. It went from Fairbanks to Anchorage to Tennessee, back to Anchorage (this took over a day) and then to China! Sometimes I think it's best not to track packages.
We mailed our passports and visa application forms to our agency, and they are going to take care of getting us our Chinese visas. Please pray the whole process goes smoothly and in a timely manner. Scott is all up-to-date on his shots as he deployed to Saudi earlier this year. I needed to start my Hep A & B series, so I got that done Friday.
We finished Jonathan's room last week! It was so much fun. We played with all the toys when we were done. I've attached some pictures of his room. He has a toddler bed and a twin bed. As far as I know, he's still in a crib at the orphanage. I think moving him to a twin might be too much of a change. We left the twin bed up because I don't know how he's going to react to his room. He's used to being surrounded by kids in the orphanage, and he may need someone to sleep in his room for a little while. The problem will come in deciding who gets to sleep in his room. We may just cram all four of us in there!
This waiting is excruciating. Please pray we will stay focussed on God and His will, not ours. Talk to you soon!
Blessings & Love,
Julie
Saturday, November 10, 2007
November 10, 2007
We received our Referral Acceptance document from our adoption agency yesterday; they overnighted it to us from Virgina. Scott and I signed and dated it, and I will head downtown to Fedex this morning to fly it as quickly as possible to Beijing, China so we can get our travel dates. It amazes me how China's receipt of this one single piece of paper is the last piece of the puzzle we've been working on for three years.
We should receive our actual travel dates in about two weeks. Our adoption agency guesses we will be traveling the first week of December. We are thrilled! Scott and I are going to start learning some basic Chinese words and phrases. I think it's important when traveling to foreign countries to at least make an effort to communitcate in their language (not that I've ever traveled overseas to a foreign country, mind you). It will also help Jonathan if we know a few simple words he's familiar with.....he's never heard the English language before, and I know this adoption will be somewhat traumatic for the little guy. Please pray for a smooth transition for Jonathan.
Our social worker sent us some literature about meeting Jonathan for the first time. The article said it was important not to run up and hug (accost) him, but to sit on the floor and let him come to us. If anyone reading this knows me, you are laughing your head off. In Jonathan's best interest, I will pray God gives me the wisdom and self control not to grab him up, sqeeze him tight, and kiss his little face all over.
Our church is throwing us a baby shower today! I'm so excited!!! We just finished moving the girls' rooms -Kaylee moved in the basement, Jackie took Kaylee's room, and Jonathan will take Jackie's old room. I'm going to get Jonathan's room all set up this week.
I guess the next time you'll hear from us on this blog is when we receive our travel dates. The fun and craziness will really begin then! Thank you for all your love, prayers, and support!
We should receive our actual travel dates in about two weeks. Our adoption agency guesses we will be traveling the first week of December. We are thrilled! Scott and I are going to start learning some basic Chinese words and phrases. I think it's important when traveling to foreign countries to at least make an effort to communitcate in their language (not that I've ever traveled overseas to a foreign country, mind you). It will also help Jonathan if we know a few simple words he's familiar with.....he's never heard the English language before, and I know this adoption will be somewhat traumatic for the little guy. Please pray for a smooth transition for Jonathan.
Our social worker sent us some literature about meeting Jonathan for the first time. The article said it was important not to run up and hug (accost) him, but to sit on the floor and let him come to us. If anyone reading this knows me, you are laughing your head off. In Jonathan's best interest, I will pray God gives me the wisdom and self control not to grab him up, sqeeze him tight, and kiss his little face all over.
Our church is throwing us a baby shower today! I'm so excited!!! We just finished moving the girls' rooms -Kaylee moved in the basement, Jackie took Kaylee's room, and Jonathan will take Jackie's old room. I'm going to get Jonathan's room all set up this week.
I guess the next time you'll hear from us on this blog is when we receive our travel dates. The fun and craziness will really begin then! Thank you for all your love, prayers, and support!
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