We made it!

After a very long day of traveling for only a 1.5 hr. flight, we finally made it to Guangzhou and the famous White Swan hotel. We left Changsha at 5pm and didn't get to the hotel until 11pm! It was very taxing on the kids. Jia did surprisingly well for her first airplane ride. I think she was so exhausted she just didn't care once she got over the initial shock of it all. She finally fell asleep (sitting up!) after we were in the air for an hour. Needless to say we were exhausted when we got in (which is why I didn't post last night).

The White Swan is just as beautiful as I've been told, and we are wishing we would have been here in Guangzhou the whole time! It's so peaceful around the hotel with very friendly shops that want to sell you any keepsake they can. They do quite a bit of business because pretty much when you become a parent of a Chinese child you get an "I'm a sucker" stamp on your forehead and everyone can see it but you. Truly though there are some wonderful mementos that we will be bringing home with us. I'm not sure they will be as important to Jia as they are to us, but it doesn't matter.

Today we had the medical exam and the funny thing is they have a sign in the room where you wait in line that says "Keep Quiet". Um...how exactly do they propose we keep our child quiet when they are being poked and prodded in a strange room by a strange man with a funny shiny disc on his forehead??? They said she weighs 25 lbs. which I find hard to believe, but I'm sure within a matter of days she will weigh at least that, and probably more. The girl can eat!! She packs it in like a little chipmunk and STILL wants to put more in her mouth! We were warned about this though. Our guide said they will eat and eat if you let them. They are not used to an unlimited supply of food.

My internet connection shuts down in about 5 minutes, so I have to wrap it up for today. Keep praying...she had a hard morning but was doing much better this afternoon. She was a total Daddy's girl today and didn't want much to do with me until this evening. Her parent of choice seems to change daily. :)

The eel video should be fixed

I think I fixed the link for the eel video. Check it out below :)

What a difference a day makes!

As I write this, Jia is having her evening bath and I hear talking and squeals of laughter as Jason entertains her! She can be so silly and it is so fun to watch her crinkle up that nose and let out big belly laughs. She woke up much happier this morning and finally started to really "play" with her toys instead of just hording them. She would walk around the room carrying everything she could fit in her little hands and arms, and rarely would play with the things. (Bird, she LOVES the "quiet book"!) Today, however, was different. She is starting to feel much more at ease with us and we are so thankful! The only time she has really been cranky today is when she is tired. She had a bit of a melt down at nap time today. The benefit, though, is that she slept on my stomach for over an hour. She LOVES to be rocked to sleep and that has become a precious time for the two of us.

Today we had a bunch of paperwork to take care of (well, Jason did ;) and then this afternoon we went to a 3 story Wal-Mart! We bought Jia some squeaky shoes which China is famous for, but I had to take the squeakers out! We also got this great toy that has Chinese/English translations for about a gazillion words. You put a card in it and press the picture and it will say the English and the Chinese word. I think it's going to be a great help for Jia to learn English. We can tell she has quite a vocabulary of Chinese words already.

Tomorrow night we will fly about an hour to Guangzhou which will be the final leg of our trip. We are looking forward to a new hotel room but we will be sad that we are leaving Jia's province. While we're in Guangzhou Jia will have her medical exam. We are anxious to see how much she weighs and how tall she is. You should see her little jeans just hanging off her bottom! She just fits 18mo., and 24 mo. are a bit loose, especially the bottoms. She's not as tiny as a couple of girls in our group, but she is definitely petite. She has big feet though!

We want to thank you for your continued prayers, and for your words of encouragement while we've been away. It has been a blessing to hear from home. Only 6 days to go! We're looking forward to breathing some fresh air again (the pollution is unlike anything we've ever experienced--the sun disappears!) and to seeing familar sights and faces of home. In the meantime we are going to soak up every moment of China while we can. :)

Day 3 was a bit rough

Today Jia woke up out of sorts and stayed that way for the majority of the day. There was no consoling her. She sort of wimpered/whined all day which she really hasn't done yet. I was pretty sure she wasn't feeling well. Her nose is pretty runny and even as she's sleeping now I can hear she's congested. I will be honest and say Mommy had a bit of a breakdown (hiding in the bathroom) because it hurt so much to see her so sad. We will not be disheartened, though, because we know her little heart is still aching for her "Baba" at the orphanage, and she's only known us for a few days now. I guess we'll give her some grace. :)

On our Gotcha Day we basically spent a total of a half hour at the Civil Affairs office, and then we went back to the hotel. We then had to RETURN to the Civil Affairs office at 3:30 that afternoon for the next step in the paperwork--some sort of a cruel joke! It was at that time that we found out that the man who had been watching Jia so intently the first time we were there was actually the Orphanage Director, Mr. Wong. It was so clear that Jia and Mr. Wong had a special connection. He told us her nickname was "Fay Fay" (phonetic), and so we have decided in honor of their special bond we are going to name her Jia Fei (spelling is yet to be determined). Names are extremely important in the Chinese culture, and we are grateful that both of her "American" names will reflect her Chinese heritage.

She is just so precious to us, and we can't imagine life without her. We know that one day she will grow to love us as much as we love her, though I'm not sure that's humanly possible! She's absolutely beautiful, and we are anxious to see her personality come to life. Her smile, sometimes with a crinkled up nose, will turn you to putty! She's going to be a hit at home, that's for sure. Only 8 more days!!

The pictures from today weren't as good, and we didn't take as many because she just wasn't feeling well. The picture of her with the french fry (yes--we have already introduced her to McDonalds--you can thank us later Jim and Sharon!) was from last night. Today we toured the embroidery museum and went to the Yue Li Academy (look it up online if you're interested). I know you don't care about "sightseeing" photos right now so I'll leave those out!

Oh, in case you hadn't noticed, I fixed the two missing pictures from yesterday's post. The sleeping face shot with the tear pretty much summed it up for her. Jason and I get choked up every time we see it.

Our love to you all, and thank you for continued prayers on our behalf. God has been good to us!

New photos below

Day 2 in Changsha

Well hello everyone, this is Jason! First, I can't tell you what your comments and encouragement have meant to the two of us. Reading your loving thoughts brought the both of us to tears. (Before I forget, hope all you moms out there had a terrific mom's day, and I'm supposed to give a shout out to the Evergreen Christian family from Mrs. H. Actually she wanted me to send you all hugs and kisses and that sort of thing but my salutation sounds way cooler.) Day 2 has been both encouraging and heart wrenching if that makes any sense. Jia was loved beautifully at the orphanage. In fact it's clear that she was a favorite of the director. Her very strong bond to her caregiver and the director makes her unnatural and abrupt separation from them the most painful thing Krysta and I have ever witnessed. She continues to mourn her loss with a crying that is so filled with sorrow and suffering sometimes we think our hearts will literally break into millions of pieces. It's impossible for Krysta and I to hear it without joining her. She's not really mad at us, just full of confusion and deep pain. I wonder how large of a scar it will leave on her.

Ok, now for the encouraging part. Because Jia received such wonderful care, her overall development is far beyond the other children in our group from the same orphanage (we're a little conflicted about that, as you might imagine). Her language skills are more advanced (and I'm not just speaking as a proud father - entirely). She has already begun to sign "please", "thank you", "more", "bye-bye" etc. She's sharp as a tack.
It's also quite apparent that Jia has a strong capacity to love people. Not only has this been demonstrated in the severity of her separation sorrow, but also in the way she has begun to connect with Krysta. She's allowing Krysta to help her through her pain. When she cries out in anguish for her "baba" (that's what she called the director), she wants Krysta to hold her and stay with her until a merciful sleep takes over her exhausted body. Krysta is "mama" to her now and the beginnings of their relationship are full of hope!

In addition, if you will indulge a little vanity on my part (ok, alot), she happens to be about the most beautiful little girl in all of China (actually I'm thinking the world, but that just sounds over the top doesn't it - even if it's true). But you don't have to take my word for it (though I do consider myself completely impartial). Just ask any one of the dozens of people who have told us that on the streets, in the stores, from our guide, and in our group. It's almost embarrassing!!! One lady stopped me while I was pushing Jia through a department store today to give me the "thumbs-up" sign. For those of you not aware, the "thumbs-up" sign is the universal signal for "that is the cutest kid in the entire world."

One last note, we think she has scabies. Krysta rubbed her down with some sort of cream from head to toe and now her hair looks like Pat Riley's. Pretty cool. One very last note, SHE'S POTTY-TRAINED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gotcha Day Photos

Our Gotcha Day

Well, let's just say it wasn't as smooth as I had hoped. She was pretty much kicking and screaming as soon as they placed her in my arms. She reached out for Jason (so sweet!) but she really wasn't in the mood for being comforted. Poor thing. But, boy, is she ever beautiful!! It took her about 3 hours once we were in our room for her to stop crying. I won't say it was easy, because honestly it was the hardest thing I think we've ever done. She was well loved by her care givers, and for that we are grateful. She is sleeping peacefully now, and I need to follow suit as it's been an exhausting day. She's beautiful, she's our daughter, and we are incredibly blessed. I'll give more details tomorrow, but I wanted to post the few photos we took amidst the chaos! Love to you all, and thank you for praying!

We made it to Changsha!

We got our wake-up call at 5:00 a.m. and we headed out at 5:30. The flight to Changsha was about 4 hours, and I thought I was feeling better until they brought out the breakfast! I grabbed the air sickness bag just in case. I think I still have a bit of a bug, but I also think some of it is just nerves! I remember when I was young I seemed to get sick at every major holiday just because of the excitement. Multiply the awe and wonder of a child at Christmas by 100 and that's about what I'm feeling right now!

Jason, on the other hand, is cool as a cucumber, just as I would expect. He's taken care of all the paperwork and money since we've been here and that has been a great blessing, especially in light of being under the weather. When they wheeled in the crib today I had to break out the video camera to capture the moment. In any other other situation it would be so completely mundane, but for some reason I just want to soak up every moment (even if we have to yawn through the video some day!).

Today we had a free day so we took about a 15 minute walk to a store that is similar to Wal-Mart. WOW! What an experience! The most interesting thing was the live seafood--which you scoop up with a net and put it on the floor for someone to clean it for you. I thought you may enjoy seeing the eels :)
We had a delicious dinner tonight with more food than you can imagine for $6 per person! The Hunan Province is known for its spicy food, and now I know why! Our guide asked them to make it less spicy and even HE thought it was too hot! Very tasty though. Well, off to bed and then in 13 short hours we will be on the bus to Civil Affairs where we meet our baby girl! I'll post more tomorrow night!

P.S. We can't read the blog from China so that means we can't read your comments (or check to see if the pictures and video are working!) but please don't let that stop you. We will look forward to reading them when we return home. :)

P.S.S. Happy Mother's Day to our Moms!

Starting off rough

Well, we made it to China, just in time for me (Krysta) to get a touch of the flu. Yesterday we were to tour Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall. I woke up at about 3:00 a.m. with body aches and spent the morning crying, thinking I wouldn't be well enough to go touring. Can you believe it? Here we are in China and I may have to stay in the hotel all day! I decided I would give it a go. There are some great people in our travel group and they were trying to think of anything they had with them that might help. Our guide, David, was so sweet too, as he went to the store and brought back bananas, some sort of interesting rice biscuit-type cookies and water. I made it through Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City, but I started going down hill quickly at lunch time and ended up sleeping on the bus the whole time we were at the Great Wall. Yep, major bummer. Jason, however, made it to the top of the Great Wall! I was too sick to even really get up and look out the windows, and frankly, too sick to care. The weather was beautiful so Jason got a few nice pictures.

It was right back to bed for me and I woke up at 3:00 a.m. (I'm seeing a trend...) with a fever. I brought packets of electrolytes for Jia so I drank some of that and took some advil and went to sleep for another hour. Now I'm feeling pretty close to normal, but we could sure use your prayers as it would be a really big disappointment for either one of us to be sick when we meet Jia. Which by the way, happens tomorrow morning! We are so excited!! We have to be out of our room and downstairs at 5:30 a.m. this morning and I think our flight leaves at around 6:00 a.m. We will have the whole day free to explore Jia's home town and get everything ready for her. So while the beginning was rough, the moment we've been waiting for is almost here!

Can you say "carry-ons only"??

Oh yeah, we did it! Two weeks of necesseties (and some not-so-necessities, like chocolate, but Jason would disagree) for 3 people in 2 carry-on bags and 2 backpacks. If you only knew what a big deal that was for me you'd be amazed too! We even got everything packed LAST NIGHT, so this morning was just tidying up, saying goodbye to the cats (pathetic, I know) and taking video of our yard and home so we can show Jia when we're in China. We spent last night looking at each other saying "This is the last time it will be just the two of us in this house. Weird!"

We fly out at 2:20 p.m. tomorrow (Seattle) and arrive in Beijing Friday night at 9:25 p.m. Saturday we tour the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and Tienamen Square. Sunday we fly to Changsha (late evening) and meet Jia Monday morning at 10:00 a.m. at the Civil Affairs Office. We'll keep you posted!

By the way, for those of you inclined to pray for us, our biggest fear right now is the initial meeting with Jia. Please pray she won't have too hard of a time and that we will be able to comfort her during her transition. Thank you, and we'll see you on the other side of the world!

6 Days?

I'm getting twinges of anxiety and excitement every time I glance at the 'countdown' ticker. Only 6 days??

• Only 6 days until we face the most incredible challenge of our lives (for now).
• Only 6 days until this precious gift will rely on us to meet all her needs.
• Only 6 days until we finally become a family of three.
• Only 6 days until the dream becomes a reality.
• Only 6 days until we experience a love like we've never known.

I think this is going to be the longest 6 days of our lives.

Prayer Card

I had fully intended on printing this out and giving it out to those of you I may see before we leave. However, time escaped (the story of my life right now!) and I decided to post it here instead. If you click on the picture you will be able to print it if you like so you can remember to pray for us while we're gone. I love the internet!