It's Charlie Day!!

What a day!  Let me start at the beginning.  We woke up about 6:30, got ready, and headed down to breakfast.  We've found that even though we don't really eat breakfast at home, in China breakfast may be the only good meal we get all day.  I know it's a shocker, but I'm having trouble finding food I like here.

Anyway, then we went outside to pray a little before we left.  We got very overwhelmed thinking about how scared Charlie must be and how sad his nanny must be saying goodbye to him this morning.  Unfortunately, with the joy of adoption and this exciting day, there also comes loss of so much.  Charlie loses everything he has ever known and that makes me very sad for him.

We met our group and drove over to the civil affairs office about 15 minutes from our hotel.  When we walked in, we saw him immediately, getting some snacks from the lady who brought him.  Her name is Coco and she does the paperwork for the children at the orphanage.  We immediately became emotional after seeing him.  We are finally in the same room!  The lady handed him to us and he came right to us.  No tears.  Brian and I took turns playing with him while we completed the paperwork basically saying we will take good care of him for the next 24 hours until the adoption can be finalized tomorrow.  We also got a wonderful book from the Half the Sky foundation that has several baby pictures of him as well as some type of journal of his growth.  It's all in Chinese so we'll have to do some translation.  I am so very indebted to Half the Sky for the wonderful programs they run at my son's orphanage and at others around the country.

Then we loaded the van and headed for the local Walmart type store.  The bus made Charlie very nervous.  When I walked onto the bus he immediately broke into a sweat and clung to me.  When we got to the store we picked up a few items we needed like some snacks and formula and then headed back to the hotel.  He did fall asleep on me on the way back to the hotel and napped for about an hour.

We played together for several hours after that and then went out to the mall to try to find some dinner for Charlie and some new shoes.  The ones he was wearing were too small.  We found a cute kids store and bought him some shoes that fit better.  We also looked for some clothes for him because his 12 month stuff is too big.  He is very tiny.

Shopping was interesting.  We tried to explain we were looking for smaller clothing for our baby, but they didn't really understand us.  All of the clothes we saw seemed like toddler sizes and are all for very cold weather.  We are sweating from the heat and still air and these stores only sell sweaters and coats.  We are also quite the attraction.  Store employees would call everyone over to see the Americans with the Chinese baby.  I'm not loving all the staring, that's for sure.  We did find some veggie rice to feed him and then headed to Papa John's for dinner.  The familiar taste was very welcomed!

We fed Charlie a bottle of a formula and rice cereal mixture, which we totally guessed about how to make, but it seemed to be a big hit.  We weren't sure when he would want to go to bed, but we figured he had a very long day and about 7:45 we tried to get him to sleep.  He didn't want to sit or lay down so Brian paced the floor with him until he finally gave up the fight and fell asleep.  He's in his crib next to our bed now.

Overall, today could not have gone better for us.  Charlie is such a sweetie and really did great considering the circumstances.  He really likes food and he laughs when Brian tickles him.  He hasn't cried much, but I imagine it's going to set in soon that he is staying with us and the sadness will come.

Tomorrow we go back to the civil affairs office to make everything official with Charlie!!  Thanks again for all your prayers.  We felt them every step of the way.  God is so very faithful.

Going to get Charlie!

We saw him when we walked in!

We are finally holding him!

We are in Nanjing!

We started the morning early again because we are apparently not capable of sleeping past 4:30am here.  Hopefully that will change once we've got a toddler wearing us out.  

We met at 7:30 am for the airport and went through the most stressful and intense security checks ever.  It's hard to know what they want you to remove from your carry on.  Some people had to remove electronics, some had to remove batteries, some jewelry, etc.  Then they physically wand down every person, except for me for some reason who passed right through.  I guess I look innocent or something.

The flight was short and we landed in Nanjing.  We checked in to our hotel, a Holiday Inn, and unpacked and then took a look around.  There is a huge mall attached to our hotel that has many American stores like H&M, Gap, Nine West, etc.  There is also a Papa John's and a Cold Stone Creamery there that I'm sure we'll be visiting more than once while we are here.  

For the first time we are in the same city as our son.  We are just a few minutes from him.  We have an empty crib sitting in our room and I packed his backpack full of fun toys and books.  We meet our son tomorrow morning.  I really don't even know how to comprehend that we will be becoming parents again so soon.  It's very surreal.  After a year and a half of paperwork and preparation, we will have him in our arms in a matter of hours.

I have no idea what to expect exactly tomorrow, but hope to at least post a picture as soon as I can.  I know you are all excited to see him too!

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support over this journey.  We love hearing from you as we are longing for the familiar.  We get just a taste of what Charlie will feel away from everything he knows.  It's tiring and stressful and I hurt for his sweet little heart.

Specific Prayer request:  Please take a moment to thank God for His incredible faithfulness to bring us here and pray that things go as smoothly as possible tomorrow.

Beijing Tour Day 2

Today started out fun as we received our "Red Book" which has information we need to know about our schedule and adoption as well as several new photos of Charlie.  Can't wait to kiss those sweet cheeks in just a few days!!

We then visited Tiananmen square and the Forbidden City with our group, both major icons and very important to China's history.

Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen gate (Gate of Heavenly Peace) located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the fourth largest city square in the world.  It has great cultural significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history.  While it has great significance in China, it was not our most exciting stop of the trip so far.  It was very crowded and, unlike the Great Wall yesterday, Westerners are definitely in the minority.  We had several people stop us to ask if they could take their photo with us.  Very interesting.

Tiananmen square then leads us to the Forbidden City.  The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty. It is located in the center of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government.  It was amazing.  I can't even describe how large this place is. The architecture is impressive and very indicative to what you might imagine a Chinese Palace would look like.  The palace is now completely empty and open to tourists.  It was actually really hot out and I'm pretty sure I have a nice sunburn from today.

After this, we had lunch and visited a silk factory.  It was so interesting to learn about how silk is made and see some of the beautiful things they make there.  We returned to the hotel and took a little nap and then headed down for dinner at the restaurant hotel.  We're still pretty exhausted and it's difficult to get solid sleep but hopefully we'll catch up soon.  Tomorrow we leave for a morning flight to Nanjing where Charlie is.  Looking forward to getting there!!

Specific prayer request:  please pray for a good night sleep tonight and safe flight in the morning to Nanjing!

Our Red Book!

Ni Hao from Beijing!

We have just completed our first full day in China!  And what an exciting day it was!

I'll start off with yesterday as it was quite a day for me.  I have to admit I was pretty anxious to get on the airplane, for multiple reasons, and it took some great encouragement from some great friends to remind me of our purpose for this trip.  We've got a child waiting for us here and we have to go.  There are times in life you have to decided - do I trust God with everything or not?- And I got on the airplane despite my anxiety.

When we got on our airplane to Beijing we had great bulkhead seats with an empty seat next to me.  Just perfect.  Then a Chinese woman comes to sit in the empty seat with her newborn baby.  Not so perfect.  Turns out the baby slept the entire trip and the woman seemed very sweet.  The flight was exhausting but uneventful and we arrived about 9:45 pm in Beijing.  After walking through a temperature scanner we had to stand in a long line to get our visas checked to enter the country, then onto get our baggage and our guide took us to the hotel.

The hotel is really amazing with soft beds and a wonderful breakfast - even if it did include some unique breakfast items like fried rice and baked beans.

After a few hours of precious sleep, we met the rest of the people in our group this morning and headed off to the Great Wall.  The bus ride was an adventure because apparently no one follows the street signs or stays in their lane.  I just tried not to look out the window.

I have been excited to visit the Great Wall, but it was even more amazing than I expected.  Truly one of the most spectacular things we have ever seen.  We were also not prepared for how challenging it would be to climb up!  The stairs are very steep and each step is a different height so it's quite a workout! We found a alternate path down the wall that was much less crowded and very scenic.  We loved sitting at one of the tables near the bottom and just taking it all in.  We were able to pray there and thank God for his creation and for his faithfulness in bringing us here.

We then moved on to a jade factory where they hand carve beautiful jade statues and jewelry.  They showed us all the different kinds of jade and how to tell the difference between high quality jade and imitation.  Some of the pieces were so amazing!  Lunch was at the second floor of the factory and was very good.  Some complained that it was kind of "American Chinese food" but it was right up my alley!

After lunch we went on a tour of Hutong Lane which is a very very old and expensive part of Beijing.    Living there costs an exorbatant amount of money, but the living conditions are far below what we in America would accept.  The homes don't even have bathrooms in them and many of them are super tiny but the history and importance of living in that area is worth much more to them.  It was very interesting to see this part of their culture.

About 3pm we were dropped back off at the hotel and it hit us both that we had not slept much in the past few days like a ton of bricks.  We ordered pizza in the room - called the best Italian restaurant in Beijing - so we'll give it a try.  Then off to bed for some much needed sleep!!

Here are some pictures from today's adventures:

Driving through Beijing

At the Great Wall of China!

The steps were so steep!

Man carving Jade at the Jade Factory

We drove by the bird's nest stadium from the Beijing Olympics!

Riding the rickshaw through Hutong Lane