People's Park

Little girl is sleeping extra long for her nap so I had a chance to download and now upload some more pics and video.  Today we had an "official" tour of the People's Park.  We went yesterday on our own after breakfast out of desperation to establish some sort of routine.  The park is very close to our hotel and we don't have to cross the street to get there.  (More on the traffic here in another post.)  It is a wonderful place.  There is grass and we even caught a glimpse of some butterflies and dragonflies.  (Are we sounding a little homesick?)  Matt thought he saw a squirrel but it turned out to be a very large rat :).  It has an amusement park, lake, places of historical interest and lots and lots of walking paths.  There are many retired men and women who gather for ti chi, playing instruments, singing, playing games, etc.  In the lake there are tens of thousands of koi.  Our guide Mary told us that it is considered good luck to feed them so there is no fishing or catching of them allowed.  Good to know :).  In the amusement park there are stands where you can shoot a BB gun at a wall of balloons and if you pop a balloon you win a prize.  In China the citizens are not permitted guns of any type so we were laughing at the thought of Matt sitting down to do this and popping an entire line of balloons.  We were actually almost hysterical at this thought.  Matt said yesterday "people about break their necks" turning around to continue to stare at us after they walk past.  We were told by our agency that in China it is not considered to be rude to stare but wow, we didn't expect this much attention.  In defense of the Chinese here in Nanning, we are not a common sight.  In the seven days we have been here we have seen exactly seven people who were not Chinese in appearance, and they were all in our hotel.  We have seen one woman with wavy hair and one little girl with wavy hair.  Zero with curly hair which I cannot pull back because I am then seemingly unrecognizable to Anna.  We have seen zero men with facial hair as well.  It is also so hot and humid here we are continuously drenched in sweat when out walking around and have yet to see a Nanning native sweating.  Add in us pushing around a Chinese child who insists on wearing an Old Navy baseball hat and holding a toddler spoon in her left hand with her arm completely extended.  I'd probably "about break my neck" too :).

Anna on her ride.

Our WONDERFUL guide Mary.

Flower nursery at the People's Park.  Those are ALL apartment buildings in the background. 

What we see when we go out: Anna's hat on, spoon in hand, arm extended and stares. 

Nanning Zoo

One of the notes from Anna's foster mother was that she likes new toys.  This sort of puzzled me.  What kid doesn't?  Today we had the opportunity to say "Oh, THAT'S what she meant." 

We spent the morning at Nanning zoo.  We had a great time despite sweating uncontrolably.  There weren't a ton of animals but a bear, tiger, lion and acrobatic show as well as a dolphin show.  Anna wasn't terribly interested in the shows but sat on my lap very contentedly.  When we were at the dolphin show we were about a quarter of the way through it when a family with a young boy came and sat next to us.  The boy had a pink squeaky elephant.  She zeroed in on that pink squeaky elephant, bolted from my lap and made it crystal clear that she wanted it.  There was NO distracting her.  I put some distance between us and the toy but she was not letting it go.  We left the stadium and walked to a place where we could still see the show.  There happened to be a toy vendor there but no pink squeaky elephants.  She was content though with a new car.  On our way out Mary worked to find her a pink squeaky elephant.  Less than a dollar and a wonderful souviener for Anna's first trip to a zoo. 

Video and Photos from Meeting Anna and First 24 Hours

 

Meeting Anna!!!

Leaving with her!

Paperwork in the hotel room.  Sealing it with our signatures and thumbprints.

Finalizing her adoption the next day.  Stamping her right foot.

Leaving the notary.  She is officially ours!!!

What you don't see is the video prior that shows Anna laughing whenever Matt would pound the ball and her throwing the ball back to Matt.  I had to clarify because in this one it looks like he is trying to annoy her.  I chose this one though because you can see and hear more of her.  

Like our rec room area :)?  This where we sit and play Scrabble when she takes her afternoon nap. 

Meeting and Our First 24 Hours Together

We were prepared for the worst in the amount of information we would receive about Anna as well as her transitioning to us.  We never imagined the best case scenario, but I think we have it.  Yesterday when we picked her up we received a two page translation of her daily eat and sleep routine, what she eats and how she eats it (HUGE for us on account of the cleft), what she likes and is afraid of, what her personality is like, etc.  We also had the opportunity to ask every possible question to the orphanage's foster care contact person.  And it gets better. One of the questions we asked was when she came from foster care to the orphanage.  That morning they picked her up from her foster home and she came immediately to the meeting place.  The foster care contact person is obviously a seasoned and caring woman.  She provided us then with a diary written by Anna's foster mother.  Today she provided us with over 60 pictures of Anna growing up and her foster family and their home along with mementos and gifts from her foster mother.  Most of these items were given to us when the orphanage director was not in the room and we were shushed from talking about them when he returned.  Thank you just doesn't cut it but that was all we had.  

And Anna.  Instead of appearing institutionalized she almost seems spoiled!  She clearly makes us aware of her wants and dislikes and has us laughing with her imitations.  If she doesn't want something she throws it.  Hard.  If we weren't so impressed with her strength and aim we might be a little annoyed.  Something to deal with later though.  She was making eye contact with us from the start.  I was so not prepared for that I almost don't know how to interact with her!  She wasn't scared at all when we met.  They said she stared at our picture for much of the ride there.  I was so glad we knew to wear the same clothing as in the picture after hearing that.  She had the toys and books that we sent to her.  She LOVES the music toy Elias picked out for her!  Her eating yesterday was very much trial and error unfortunately resulting on the error side.  Today she ate very well and loved the American stuff.  It is all very soft and you have to get it in just right or it comes back out.  Mouth and not nose thankfully!  (Food tends to come out the nose of cleft babies.)  She is not talking at all (probably due to the cleft) but is always babbling and "chirping."  Her hair is very thin and we were told that it fell out due to a calcium and zinc deficiency.  Thus she has a bit of a mohawk look going right now.  She loves her hair.  She is always touching it and smoothing it down.  She sticks her four fingers in her mouth and then wipes it in her hair.  Today she even spit in her hand and smoothed her hair down with the spit!  We are assuming this is what her foster mother did.  Anna was obviously very well cared for and loved immensely so we can't get too disgusted by it.  Going to sleep was a lot better tonight.  There was a lot of energy last night and today for nap there was pure rage which is an indicator that she was grieving her foster mom.  I have no doubt her foster mom is grieving as well so please, please, please say a prayer her too. 

Tomorrow we have a free day so I will upload photos and videos!

Thank you for all of your words of encouragement and sustaining prayers!  We deeply appreciate each and every one!

We made it!

We made it to Nanning!!!  So did our luggage which was a BIG relief.  We left home Thursday at 7 AM and got to our hotel in Nanning this morning (Saturday) around 1 AM.  We could only sleep and hour here and there so we were both feeling pretty bad by the time we got here.  The flight from Beijing to Nanning is one we will not forget anytime soon.  The smell of smoke and body odor was so strong and we were already nauseous from lack of sleep that all we could do was keep our eyes closed and minds blank.  Add in the continuous coughing and sneezing around us too and you get a glimpse of what we are talking about. 

We have a WONDERFUL guide whose name is Mary.  Matt's comment was "you just can't go wrong with a name like that".  We are walking out the door now to meet her and drive to get Anna!!! 

Itinerary and Thanks

Our itinerary is added.  Next to the "Home" tab there is a tab labeled "Itinerary".  Click on that and you can see what we are doing and when.  China time is 12 hours ahead of US time.  Bags are just about packed and the house is almost clean (but then the house has been almost clean for years now so its unlikely that status will change...).  This weekend I want to finish the kids' schedule and notes. 

THANK YOU to the one who gave the gift of money on Saturday, through Anna's savings account at National Penn.  It is greatly appreciated and needed!  

About a month ago my mother-in-law was in the grocery store and met a mom and her 2 year old daughter who also has/had clefting and was adopted from China very recently.  We connected and I was able to meet her face-to-face today as well as her new, beautiful little girl.  Seeing her smile and being obviously well adjusted gave me so much encouragement as Matt and I are perhaps overly prepared for a difficult start with Anna.  THANK YOU to this friend who graciously passed on their family's unused critter treatments from their trip to China.  Hoping that we too will be able to bless a family with the gift of these (which means we won't have needed them :))! 

We Have Travel Dates!!!!!

We found out this AM that we have secured a Consulate Appointment of October 12 at 9 AM!  We will be leaving September 23 and returning October 16.  We will meet Anna on September 25, complete the provincial adoption requirements September 27-30, "hang out" in her province during China's National Day holiday (October 1-7), travel onto Guangzhou to complete the US part of her adoption and, provided she does not test positive for TB, we will all return home on October 16.  Her birthday is October 2 and we get to celebrate it with her, in her homeland!!!  God is so good!!!

Plan B?!?

Friday, late afternoon, our agency emailed us a plan B for traveling in September.  It still had to be reviewed by their China rep who could quite possibly say no, it would not work.  We spent the day yesterday (Saturday) traveling home from Alabama so I didn't have a chance to check email until getting home yesterday evening.  After a good 30 minutes on the phone with Verizon tech support (in India I think...) they were able to help me figure out why I could not get online.  All worthwhile (For me anyway: Verizon tech support earned her paycheck with my call.  I actually heard relief in her voice when I said I was connected!) because there was an email from our agency with specifics on their plan B and a response from the China rep saying that she thinks it could work.  We will not know for sure until next week (of course...).  The kicker, well there are two, is that we will have to be in China for an extra 7 days and thus it will cost more.  Approximate dates are leaving for China September 23 and returning home October 16.  That's a looong time for us to be away from Timothy, Elias and Natalie and an equally looong time for Matt to be in a foreign country.  I'm more concerned for us missing our three at home than them missing us.  They will be with loving, caring and competent grandparents and family friends.  As for Matt being out of the US for that long, I have no doubt he will pull himself together:  When he heard 3 1/2 weeks he thought he was going to be physically sick but somehow found the ability to hold it down. 

Now that our travel approval has been issued, Anna has most likely been returned to the orphanage.  We trust in His perfect plan and His redeeming, restoring power.  Please say a prayer for her and the hands taking care of her. 

Ughhh

Instead of emailing the agency called this morning.  Tell tale sign that it was not good news.  They could not get a Consulate Appointment in September.  They are talking of December travel but are attempting to squeeze us in before then.  I can't even go to thinking of December.  There is a rumor that travel approval is only good for 90 days so the agency rep was going to check into that as well. 

Matt could not sleep last night thinking that next week we would be leaving so he just went into work at 11:30.  We were all so optimistic especially after such a quick travel approval.  It is all in His timing.  I wonder how many times we have repeated that.    

Stunned

Yesterday, September 1, our wait for travel approval started.  It typically takes 3-5 weeks for travel approval to be issued and we were counting on it being expedited which meant roughly a 1 week wait for us.  This morning I received an email that said our travel approval had been issued.  Our agency's China rep took it upon herself to go to the director of the CCAA and plead our case.  He issued our travel approval IMMEDIATELY!!!!!  I have never, ever heard of this!  Our agency submitted a Consulate Appointment request and we should find out tomorrow if we are traveling in September and when.  Praying for one more miracle as we wait to find out about the Consulate Appointment.  

The kiddos and I are in Alabama right now squeezing in a visit to Dave, Mary and the cousins.  It is wonderful to be with Mary and have her be part of this anticipation.  We are all looking forward to Matt and Anna being part of our next visit and already have plans for places to go and things to do.