leaving China!

After a few days of consulate visits and paperwork, we left Guangzhou yesterday via bus and arrived in Hong Kong last night. We stayed at the airport hotel in Hong Kong and are now getting ready to board our flight to the USA! We have had a great trip and are delighted that we have experienced God's good favor in our lives. Becca Joy has bonded well with all of us and she is fitting in well. We have a long trip back and can't wait to see our other kids and family. Here we come!

Children's Park

On Sunday, our entire group when to a children's park at Liulua Lake park.  Although we had been there on our own the day before, we had not seen the children's park.  There were a lot of swings and self-powered rides, and a few that required a ticket.  There were hundreds of kids there. 

 Hopey's first roller coaster ride!

This is a shot down the street of the pedestrian mall ourside our hotel on Sunday night.  Thousands of people!

Medical Exam

Saturday's big task was getting Becca Joy's "medical exam".  The eight other families in our group had arrived the night before, and we were altogether for the first time on the bus around 9 am to go to the Medical Examination Office.  Although it was only about a 10 minute walk, it seems our guides thought none of the American's would want to walk, so we all boarded the bus.  After arriving, we had to first get a picture taken of Becca Joy for her physical exam form and her VISA. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Afterwards, we went to the medical examination office.  There were three stations:  height, weight and temperature; physical exam; and ear, nose and throat.  She passed with flying colors.  Basically, I think everyone does.  When we adopted Hopey, I remember the guide telling us to not say anything was wrong or we could have to go through a lot of red tape.  Becca Joy also had to get a TB test.  But the worse part was that due to changes in the Hague Convention laws, she had to be brought current on all her vaccinations.  Basically, that meant she received six shots all within about 3 minutes.  Wow.  I couldn't have even taken that.  In fact, I left her there with Priscilla and I went outside with Hopey.  Becca Joy cried quite a bit, but settled down after about 10 minutes.  She got two shots in each leg and one in each arm. 

      

After lunch and a nap, we exploring at the Qing Ping market, an outdoor market selling all sorts of strange creatures for your dinner table.  As fitting, we went on to dinner at a Cantonese restaurant where they had snakes and all sorts of things on the menu.  We stayed pretty safe with beef and fish.  It was delicious.

All in all, it was a great day.  Tomorrow is sight seeing and then we start winding it down to go back home next Friday.

                                                     

Liuhua Lake Park

Friday was a free day for us, and we decided to do some serious walking and sight-seeing on our own.  After breakfast, we walked to Liuhua Lake Park from our hotel.  Round trip, it was 4.5 miles. 

The park was beautiful, but the highlight was having dim sum at a tea house right beside one of the lakes.  It was very pituresque, and our two girls looked so grown up having the tea.  The dim sum was really great - even though we had no idea what we were ordering.

After walking back to the hotel, the girls took a nap and then we all went to the pool.  Rebecca Joy loved splashing in the water, although it was really too cold to go in.  She sat by the pool kicking her feet and really loving the experience.  It is probably the first time that she has ever seen a pool.

After the pool, we walked over to Shamian Island and found a kids play area.  The girls loved playing on the playground equipment.  They went down the slides over and over.  You can see Becca Joy on the right. 

After the playground, we finished the day at a Thai restaurant on Shamian Island. 

Becca Joy is starting to pick up a couple of English words.  She knows no, shoes, sit down, hi and bye bye.  So, not really fluent yet, but making progress.
Tomorrow, we are off to our doctor's visit.

Yun Tai Gardens

We spent Thursday finalizing some paperwork and going to Yun Tai gardens.  It was a pretty low key day, and we found ourselves trying to figure out what to do on our remaining days off.  Guangzhou is not really much of a tourist city.  Since we spent a week in Guangzhou 3 years ago, we had already seen many of the "attractions".  Yun Tai Gardens was very pretty, but pretty much all there was to do was to walk around.

There was a white carriage in the park, and we tried a number of times to get a picture where both Anna Hope and Becca Joy were smiling.  This was the best we could do!

The gardens were really beautiful - well maintained with lots of statues, including a number of comic book heros like Spiderman and Mr. Incredible. The picture at the left was beside some really pretty fountains.

After we left the gardens, we asked our driver to drop us off about 1 1/2 miles from our hotel, and we walked  back.  On the way, we went through a grocery store and bought some dim sum at the deli. We went outside and sat down on a little curb to eat our make-shift picnic lunch (see photo on right).  We were really the subject of a lot of stares - two white people with two Chinese kids eating dim sum on the curb. 

We finisned out the day with dinner at a French restaurant (served by a bunch of Chinese people) on Shamian Island, and then walked back to the hotel.  Lots of fun!

Getting to Know Each Other

We spent Wednesday getting to know Rebecca Joy (and vice-versa).  We also applied for Becca Joy's passport and received our completed adoption certificate.  Now all we have left is the medical exam and VISA application.  We left the U.S. one week ago, and now have about a week to go!

You can see that Becca Joy loves to play!  She is very ticklish and loves to be held and bounced around.

I had great fun picking Anna Hope and the Becca Joy and throwing them up in the air.  Becca Joy laughed and laughed.  After a few rounds of this, I had to take a break!  I remember doing this with my other children when they were little (17 years
ago), and I don't remember being quite so worn out.......

Anna Hope and Becca Joy played chase around and around the curtain in our room.  One would hide behind the curtain and just laugh and laugh, and the other would run in behind and chase them out.  You can see that Hopey was just beaming.

Adoption Final!

On Tuesday, Becky met us in the lobby at 8:45 am, and we went back to the Guangdong adoption center to finalize Becca Joy's adoption.  This included a family photo of Priscilla, me and Becca Joy, and an "interview" where we answered various questions about our health, satisfaction with Becca Joy and our promise to never abuse or abandon her.  Altogether, it took about an hour and we then went back to the hotel.  This papework basically meant that Becca Joy was officially our daughter.  The next 10 days will consist of a medical visit, obtaining a Chinese passport for Becca Joy and a U.S. VISA. 

We settled in for a restful evening, which turned out my first good nights sleep since last Wednesday.  Hopey and Becca Joy continued to bond, and we all got along well.  We did Skype video calls with our other three kids, and Becca Joy even said Hi and waved.  Our other kids were thrilled!

Gotcha Day and More!

After 2 1/2 years of waiting, our Gotcha Day was officially October, 18, 2010.  I have just figured out how to post on this blog by going through a VPN - the website is officially blocked in China.  So, now I am catching up for the last 2 days!

After arriving in Guangzhou on Sunday, October 17, 2010, via train from Hong Kong, we were met by Becky, our guide and translator.  The train station in Guangzhou was crowded and it was interesting to travel with the "locals."  We transferred to the Holiday Inn Shifu in Guangzhou which was to be our home for the next 11 days.  The hotel was fine - not exactly a 5 star, but adequate.  It was located on a pedestrian shopping mall which was great for walking around at night.  It was also within a 10 minute walk of Shamian Island, a popular shopping and walking area. 

After a leisurely morning on Monday, we were met by Kathy, another guide, who was substituting for Becky, since Becky had a previous commitment.  We went to the Guangdong adoption center, arriving around 2:30 pm.  We completed some basic paperwork, and within about 10 minutes, we met Rebecca Joy for the first time!  She was friendly, but still obviously still pretty attached to her caregivers.  She did not cry, which was terrific.  Anna Hope was very kind to her, and excited about meeting her little sister for the first time. 

In the photo on the left, you can see Teresa on the right, one of Rebecca Joy's nannies, from the Long Gang Social Welfare Institure in Shenzhen.  We were very impressed with her.  She was friendly and obviously knew Rebecca Joy pretty well.  She is showing Becca Joy an album that we had delivered to her a couple of months ago with pictures of our family.  Becca Joy was able to go through the album and match up the pictures to us.  Teresa told us that Sheng Xuan's nickname at the orphanage was something like "Shen Shen", or at least that was what it sounded like to us.  She had actually spent the past two weeks with a foster family, I think to help provide some transition from her caregivers at the orphanage.

There were 2 other people with Teresa who assisted in making the transition and completing some paperwork.  We all took a group photo on the right.

After leaving the adoption center, we went back to the hotel.  The transition seemed to go really well, much better than we had anticipated.  Becca Joy cried some when her nannies were leaving, but we quickly got her out of the adoption center and got her focused on something else.  Anna Hope treated her really well - she was being a great big sister.

 
When we arrived back at the hotel, Becca Joy and Anna Hope seemed to bond really well.  She was also very friendly to us.  Within a few hours, they were playing and reading books together.  It seemed like they were old friends!

Anna Hope had brought some sun glasses, and she put on a pair that she had brought for Becca Joy.  They had a great time walking around looking at themeselves in the mirror.  Hopey was all over the place, jumping around and acting crazy.  It was really fun to watch them together for the first time.

After a few hours, we put them in the  bath tub together, which they loved.  We had already decided they would sleep in the same bed, so we put them down and they went to sleep. 










So, our first day with Becca Joy comes to a joyful end.  When we first received news that we had been matched to Becca Joy, some people wondered outloud whether we were doing the right thing, whether she would be ok, physically, mentally and developmentally.  Doubts started to flood our mind, but then God reminded me that "what kind of a father when his son asks for bread, would give him a stone."  And, we decided to trust Him with the good and perfect gift he had promised to us.  It is interesting to me that most people seek to move toward a place of human understanding and efforts rather than a place of faith in God.  We have chosen to move toward a place of faith and trust in God, and God has once again shown His faithfulness to the promise he made to us about Becca Joy.  We are rejoicing in Him today!

On the way to Guangzhou!

After two days in Hong Kong, we are in the train station waiting to board the train to Guangzhou. Hong Kong was fun. We took a city tour on Saturday morning and them road the trolley on Hong Kong island in the evening. They trolley is referred to as they ding ding. It only costs about 30 cents to ride it, so we got on and did the entire loop around the island. It was good, cheap fun. Finally, the driver told us we had to get off and pay.

We went to church this morning at the YMCA. The Evangelical Community Church meets there, and they seem to enjoy more freedom than on mainland China. The service was in English and they sang some of the same songs we sing at our church. They introduced at the beginning of the service.

I ran this morning along the harbor front. The weather has been great, but the air quality is really poor.

We are almost acclimated to the timew change, but Hopey has woke us up both days at 4 am. We are looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow, hopefully to 5 am.

We shpuld be in Guangzhou around 4:30 pm. Tomorrow is "Gotcha Day"!

Arrival in Hong Kong!

After about 17 hours of flying time, we arrived in Hong Kong at 6:45 pm local time. The trip started with a little stress. I (Phil) left my computer at home (not the case - just the laptop) and I didn't notice until we were through security. I called the kids, and they weren't even back home yet because they had taken a wrong turn from the airport. Our flight was leaving at 12:10 pm, amd Michael got back to the airport at 11:40 am with my computer. I then realized in my haste to get back out of security I had taken Priscilla's rather than my boarding pass. So, I had to rush back to the ticket counter to get another copy of my boarding pass. I made it to my gate ( where Priscilla and Hopey were waiting with 10 minutes to spare. No sweat. Standard schedule when I travel.

After landing in Hong Kong, we took a taxi to our hotel, and then walked around a little at 9 pm. Hopey slept great on the plane, but Pris and I only slept maybe 1 or 2 hours.

We woke up around 4:30 am on Saturday with Hopey saying "I am hungry.". So, we are off to eat breakfast and spend a day site seeing in Hong Kong.

Going to China Tomorrow!

God has continued to work out all the details on our trip.  The travel authorization has been received, and we are off to China tomorrow (October 14, 2010).   Priscilla, Hopey and I are very excited.  We leave around noon tomorrow for Detroit, and then on to Hong Kong.  We will be in Hong Kong for two nights, and then on to Guangzhou on Sunday.  We expect to receive Rebecca Joy on Monday - our "Gotcha" day!

National Visa Center Letter Received!

We received the NVC letter today and sent it along to American World Adoption.  We took a quick look at the timetable, and we have been getting most documents a little quicker than anticipated, so that is great!  If we continued to hit everything at the lower end of the range, we could be in China in October!

I-800 Provisional Approval Received!

We received our provisional approval for our I-800 from USCIS today!  As best we can tell, we could receive our travel authorization in maybe 5-6 weeks.  This is very good news!

Care Package and Updated Photos!

We contacted Ann at Red Thread in Guangzhou and arranged to have a "care package" delivered to Rebecca Joy.  We had heard good things about Ann, and were really happy to receive a note from her and a picture of the items she delivered.

From top left to right, we sent her some candy (to share with the other children and nannies), a blanket, a bag to carry everything home, some cookies, pajamas, a letter from us (translated), a doll, disposable camera and a 10 picture photo album containing pictures of our family.  Even though she is only 2 1/2, we thought that maybe she would look at the pictures and recognize our faces when we see her.  We understand that the nannies will try to explain that she is going to go home with her forever family.  We also asked Ann to request that the nannies send us some updated photos.  The letter we sent her is below.


Dear Shengxuan,

We are your new Mommy and Daddy and we will be coming to see you soon.  We are very excited and believe that you will be a wonderful part of our family.   You will have new brothers and sisters, and they are looking forward to meeting you.  Your little sister's name is Anna Hope and she is 4 years old.  She is also from China and she will be with us when we come to bring you home.   She is talking about your everyday.  You will also have another sister named Sarah, and two brothers named Tim and Michael.

When you come home with us, you will meet a lot of new friends.  You will be with Anna Hope and sleep with her in her room.  Anna Hope is looking forward to playing with you and sharing her toys.

We hope that you like your new doll and pajamas.  We will bring some other things with us when we come to bring you home.

We love you and cannot wait to see you!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy




After we sent this a couple of days ago, we were very excited to receive some updated photos today!  Here are a few of the new photos:

Rebecca Joy - Here we Come!

Rebecca Joy's Referral Photo

After our adoption of Anna Hope was completed in September 2007, we were convinced God wanted us to trust Him for one more child, even though we were both getting into the "upper 40's".  We applied through America World Adoption Association as soon as we could (March 2008) and eventually received a login date of March 2009.  On May 23, 2010, at a Global Day of Prayer service at our church, I (Phil) was impressed to ask God to identify our next child within 90 days.  Amazingly, God did this, and within 77 days we had been matched to Rebecca Joy, filed our electronic acceptance, received our pre-approval, received our referral agreement and filed our letter of acceptance.  She is currently 2 1/2 years old, which is 1 year and 9 months younger than Anna Hope.  Anna Hope is excited about meeting Rebecca Joy, and together God has now provided in abundance Hope and Joy.  What a great blessing.

We have filed the required paperwork, and are now waiting on our Travel Authorization from China.  Our best guess is that we will travel in late October, 2010, but Priscilla is hoping for earlier!

Our entire family is getting ready for another great adoption adventure.  Our oldest three children, Tim (20), Sarah (18) and Michael (17), are experiencing how great it is to see our younger children explore their world and experience life.   They are GREAT kids and really act like little "parents".  We have been asking God that our kids would see His hand move throughout the adoption process, and we are so thankful that this has been clearly evident.  Thank you, God, for this tremendous blessing.