China Adoption Chronicles

Best Birthday Present

2010-11-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

Gracie's 1st Beach Trip

On November 7, 2009 we landed in Portland Oregon and when the wheels of the plane touched the pavement on the runway Gracie Li Hope became a US citizen. It was the end of a long and miraculous journey to bring her home and the start of her new life of freedom. It was also my birthday and the best birthday gift I had ever received.

Sarah and Gracie

This year Gracie is experiencing another first, because of the generosity of a wonderful family who are letting us use their beach house, we are at the Oregon coast. Gracie was able to see the ocean for the first time and as she was looking out over that vast ocean to the west a couple of thoughts struck me. The first was how often when she was younger that Sarah had asked if China was across the ocean. This was even before we had decided to adopt and she would always talk about how she wanted to go to China. Looking back I think God was preparing her heart and ours even then. And now all of these years later Sarah was standing on the beach looking west over the vast ocean with her little sister to a place they had both experienced together.

My girls

I was also struck with how much Gracie's life had changed in one year. She went from being alone in a big world to standing on the edge of the world with her family as we strolled along the beach. At one point when the water came in she got scared and tried to run but the water caught up with her and she fell. It scared her and she cried out and we were there to pick her up. One year later it's still the best birthday present a guy could ask for.

Celebrating 'Gotcha' Day

2010-10-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

The iconic picture of
Gracie on Gotcha day wearing
and holding her only possessions;
a red outfit, yellow shoes, a dish rag
and a bag of formula

Gracie today

One year ago today we held a screaming, frightened little girl in our arms for the first time and realized that as happy as we were to meet her, she was just as UN-happy to meet us. It was a day that we will remember fondly for the rest of our lives as the long wait was finally over and we held our precious Gracie Li Hope. So much has happened in one year as we've seen this scared little girl blossom into an outgoing, friendly charmer who can melt any heart with her smile. We are so blessed and know that we share this feeling with all of the other families who shared that day with us. Even though we were all in different places our hearts were and still are united in this one blessed moment. A special thank you goes out to all of our friends, family, and community for embracing our little Gracie Li Hope with such open and willing arms. You are a blessing beyond words!

A real American now!

We entitled the 'Gotcha Day' video below "Cheerios" for obvious reasons. It still brings tears to my eyes as I watch the first moments of attachment happen.

Click HERE for the YouTube version if this doesn't work.

One Year Ago

2010-10-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

The Stitzel 3 departing at PDX

It's hard to believe that one year ago today we landed in Beijing, China at the beginning of the end of our journey to get our little Gracie. Now that she become part of our family it's hard to believe that she wasn't always with us. As I sit to write this I am flooded with memories of those days that are surprisingly vivid after a year. I remember the long, and seemingly endless flight to get there and how the immigration check in area of the Beijing airport seemed so outdated. The first family we met were the Wrights, who were on the same flight with us but we were completely unaware of how our families would be linked forever. They loaded us in a van to go to the hotel and the thing that struck me was how dark it was because there were so few street lights.

Diana looking out of the hotel window

The hotel was nice but the beds were smaller and harder than we expected and after a less than perfect nights sleep it was off to breakfast where we first saw many of the families who would share this experience with us. It was kind of surreal looking back on it. We were all there together yet for the most part we didn't know who anyone was. One thing we were grateful for was the familiar selections at breakfast, it was very comforting having something familiar.

Diana and Sarah

After breakfast we all loaded onto our bus for sightseeing at Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City, and Summer Palace. All wonderful places but it was kind of an odd way for all of the families to get acquainted. I recall all of the emotions that flooded my heart as we walked those first few steps in the square, something about that moment kind of brought everything to together for us in that we were really in China about to complete this long journey to Gracie. Looking back it's interesting to think that we knew we were soon going to get her, but she had no idea we were this close.

Day 1-Dinner Restaurant

The meals together were really special time of bonding with each other. I find it interesting just how close we remain to those families we shared our meals with those first days in Beijing. The food was wonderful and not at all what I expected. It was nothing like all of the stories of strange cuisine that you hear about from other travelers.

Sarah and Diana with
our pearl sales clerk

We also had two shopping side trips to the pearl market and the silk factory. It was interesting to see how these markets worked and how much they were tailored to tourists like us. The staff were aggressive but so friendly you didn't mind and the haggling was a lot of fun. They were always willing to make a deal. The thing that stood out to me the most was how plain and unappealing the shops looked on the outside. They looked like your run of the mill strip mall but inside they were loaded with expensive merchandise.

Diana and Jerry at Tienanmen Square

When we finally arrived back at the hotel after a long day of fighting jet lag and sightseeing we were ready to hit the sack and prepare for our second day of Beijing and one day closer to Gracie Li Hope.

Uncomprehended Gifts

2010-06-22T16:09:00.000-07:00

When we landed in the United States on November 7, 2009 Gracie Li Hope automatically became a US Citizen. She didn't have to do a thing in order for that to happen because all of the requirements were fulfilled on her behalf by someone else. As her parents we loved her before she was even born, we started the process to adopt her a year before she was conceived and we didn't even know anything about her until she was almost 2 1/2 years old. We completed all of the paperwork and went through all of the evaluations to qualify to be her family and she wasn't even aware of any of this. Everything we did for here made it possible for her to receive three very special gifts the day she landed in the United States:

Gift of citizenship was given to her. In the future she'll be able to vote, speak her mind (which she's already doing quite well), and do everything else any American citizen can do and she's blessed because she doesn't have to wait or do any paperwork because we did all of that for her.

Gift of a forever home was given to her. Gracie was blessed to be in a wonderful foster family for most of her life before becoming part of our family and we are grateful to all of those who made it possible. But even with that amazing gift it was still only a temporary arrangement. Even after we legally adopted her in China,the adoption wasn't officially recognized in the United States until we landed.

Gift of a spiritual heritage was given to her. Even though Gracie will have to make the decision to follow Jesus for herself when she's old enough to do so, she will have experienced the love of Jesus through her family, and friends in such a way that this decision will be a natural one for her. In her birth country 'Christianity' is an officially recognized religion but it's not at all certain that she would have had the opportunity to really know who Jesus is or even to own her own copy of the Bible.

As we celebrate Gracie's 3rd birthday and she enjoys opening her gifts she will completely unaware of three of the most important gifts that she will ever receive.

Thanks for the Booger

2010-06-08T00:06:00.000-07:00

The other day I was driving Gracie to pick up her sister Sarah from school. On our way I heard a persistent plea for assistance from the car seat in the back. Of course since Gracie is still working on learning English there are times when she doesn't know how to say what she wants to and she resorts to grunts and random words to try to communicate.

It was clear she needed something because her pleas were getting louder and more persistent. When I glanced back I noticed she was holding out her hand with her thumb and index finger pinched together and she wanted to give me something. We finally came to a stop light and I reached back, thinking it would have been nice to be double jointed right at that moment, and accepted the little gift she had pinched between her fingers. It was a booger! She had discovered this nugget and when she had extracted it from her nose she didn't know what to do with it. She didn't have a tissue, and she didn't want to wipe it on her clothes (thankfully) or car seat (thankfully again) so the logical solution was to give it to dad. Since she didn't know what it was called in English she couldn't warn me of her intentions so in trying to be a diligent father I learned a valuable lesson: teach your children what a booger is and how to say it early in life! What? You were expecting the lesson to be 'make sure there was a tissue'? C'mon I'm a dad!

Ah the joys of parenthood!

Happy Day!

2010-06-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

Today is Gracie Li Hope's third birthday but it's also her first birthday. Her first birthday as a United States citizen and most importantly her first birthday with her forever family. It's an exciting day for all of us as we celebrate together. She received her first birthday card in the mail from her maternal grandparents, her first birthday song from her paternal grandparents, her first Facebook birthday greetings (compliments of dad's Facebook account) and her first birthday gifts from her forever family.

It's always fun to watch a child celebrate a birthday. When I went home for lunch she greeted me with a loud "Happy Day" and she couldn't wait to show me her birthday card. She just kept skipping and dancing around the house saying 'Happy Day!" So cute! But in a way very ironic that she inadvertently left out "birth" because we'll most likely never know her real birthday. She was found on July 3 and the orphanage staff estimated that she was about a month old so June 1 was the day that was chosen for her. The interesting thing is that June 1 is Children's Day in China and yet there are so many children who are waiting to be placed with a forever family of their own. We're so happy that we are now part of Gracie's family and that she is part of ours and our prayer is that somehow God will use a little girl whose name means 'Blessed Beautiful Hope' to encourage others to help children find their forever families through adoption.

With that we celebrate Gracie Li Hope's 3rd - 1st birthday.

To help other children please consider supporting An orphan's Ticket Home, Grace and Hope for Children or Hope 4 China.

Attachments

2010-05-21T14:16:00.000-07:00

One of the questions that most adoptive parents ask themselves on their journey of adoption is "Will I be able to bond with this child and they with me?" I think this is especially true for adoptive parents who have already had biological children since they have something to compare it to. I have to admit that I didn't give it much thought because I was sure that it would all work out no matter what happened. But along the road I learned a new and valuable lesson about bonding and attachment from our new little girl.

By its very nature adoption is always the result of some catastrophic event in the life of the child and even sometimes in the life of the adoptive parents. So from the very outset there are challenges and those challenges are magnified when the child is old enough to have some idea of what is going on. When I think about how Gracie must have felt when her nanny handed her to this strange family who didn't look anything like the people she was used to being with it almost breaks my heart. As happy as we were to see her she was just as unhappy to see us. Our tears were tears of joy and hers were tears of fear and sorrow and while she couldn't totally comprehend what was happening to her she knew something was up.

One of the things that sticks with me is watching Gracie go through the process of accepting us into her life. Once she got over the initial shock of being with us it seemed that she accepted being with us like a child would accept a babysitter. She had to depend on someone and so she chose to trust us but as the days went on and it became apparent to her that she was stuck with us she had to make another adjustment to accept us as her family. I believe biological children come pre-wired for that but adopted children have to make that decision. But it's not just the adopted child that has to make that transition the adoptive family does too, and that's where attachment issues can become evident.

I'm happy to say that our attachment journey has been a good one. Gracie attached to me first, then her sister, and finally with mom. We think it took a little longer for her to really accept mom because of her relationship with her foster mom in China. I'm sure it took a while for her little heart to stop grieving the loss of the only woman she had known as a mother. But as we have shared our love with her she has learned that she can trust us and that we aren't going to leave her and now she feels comfortable is expressing her love to us It's so precious when she spontaneously will come up to us and start kissing our faces. She'll start with out cheek, then she wants to kiss our head, then finish up with a big kiss! Yep she's our daughter alright.

Pulling My Leg?

2010-04-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's has been a while since I've updated this blog. Almost 6 months has passed since bringing Gracie home with us and through all of the adjustments in our family routine and the changes she has experienced we have found this whole experience to be more wonderful than we could have expected. Our daily routines bring opportunities for special moments, especially when it comes to learning the English language.

Gracie, like all children her age, is like a little information sponge. I'm amazed at how quickly she has learned to communicate with us using English words and small phrases, and when words fail she has learned to use expressions and gestures to get her point across. One of the funny things she does as a 2 1/2 year old is using the universal selective listening ploy. It's obvious she understands more than she lets on and every once in a while she gives us the old "don't you know I speak Chinese" look as she ignores our requests.

But she occasionally gives herself away like the other evening. We were sitting in the living room and Gracie was being silly and trying to trick us into thinking she couldn't do something we knew she could do so I said "I know what you're doing, you're pulling Baba's leg!" She looked at me and smiled, then walked over and grabbed my leg and started pulling on it laughing heartily as she did.

Now we know who's really pulling who's leg!

Gracie Li Dancing 1

2009-12-30T20:33:00.001-08:00

I think she's adjusting quite well...

Chinese Hand Painting

2009-12-08T00:10:00.001-08:00

We saw this artist creating these incredible images by only using his hands. No brushes, etc. Amazing.

Just Love Coffee Roasters

2009-12-02T00:20:00.000-08:00

Love kids? Love coffee? We do too. There are an estimated 143,000,000 orphans in the world and this number is expected to grow. Just Love Coffee Roasters is Helping Orphans and Their Forever Families by giving a portion of purchase to help families with their adoption costs. Check out our store and forward this to others for us.

Visit our store at: https://www.justlovecoffee.com/gracie

First Week Home

2009-11-17T23:05:00.001-08:00

Pic: Gracie wearing jie jie's (big sister)shoes.

Video: Gracie's Silly Walk

We've been home for a little over a week and things are finally starting to settle in to more of a routine. Gracie Li is adjusting really well and has been able to meet some of her family and spend time with them. Last Sunday our church family threw us a surprise welcome home/shower party after the service. During the morning gathering I had shared some personal spiritual reflections from out time in China complete with some video clips. It felt good to be back.

One funny moment occurred during the service just after I had prayed I look up and Gracie had somehow made her way up to the front where I was speaking and when I said 'amen' and opened my eyes there she was looking up at me. So I picked her up and officially introduced her to her new church family. She really enjoyed playing with the other kids and they did such a nice job of including her.

While Gracie has adjusted really well night time is still challenging. She usually screams a bit before settling down, but each night gets a little better and she hasn't been waking up crying as often during the night. In fact last night she only woke up once and was able to get herself back to sleep.

Gracie love to pretend she's cooking. We're not sure what she cooking up but we suspect its congee or stir fry. She love to be a big girl and share her food and she likes to feed her ba ba (that's me). I've gotten used to eating soggy crackers. It's an acquired taste. She won't take no for an answer either and she gets a rally frustrated hurt look when I don't eat what she's offering to me.

We went to La Costita Sunday night and introduced her to Mexican food. She loved the rice and fajita chicken. She also wanted to try a bite of my fajita. She pointed at it and opened her little mouth up wide and waited. It was so cute.

Gracie also gets excited whenever someone comes home. The other day when jie jie (big sister) got home from school Gracie could hardly contain herself and started smiling and giggling then ran around the screaming with joy. So much fun.

Quick hitters:

The first thing I noticed upon returning: English

The first meal I had after returning: Philly cheese steak from Quizno's.

The beds in the hotels in China and smaller and harder than the beds in the US. The double beds in Beijing we're slightly larger than a twin bed. The beds in Nanning were twin size and very hard (we took turns sleeping on the floor which was about the same). The beds in Guangzhou were the best ones. Still small but closer to double beds.

There is WIDE interpretation about what 'Western Breakfast' means in China. Nanning was the most unusual. They had one small table with some toast and cereal. Hot foods you had to figure out for yourself. Rice noodles taste good for breakfast!

Chicken was very interesting. They deep fried them heads and all including the comb and feet. Talk about strange looking food. We didn't order any because we were chicken :-)

Final Leg Home

2009-11-07T16:39:00.000-08:00

Pics: Gracie and Diana on flight from Hong Kong to Tokyo. Gracie sleeping en route from Tokyo to PDX.
Right now I'm writing this in the skies just outside of Japan. Gracie is sleeping (yeah!) a sleeping baby on a long flight is a good thing.
Gracie is so beautiful and we are so blessed to be her forever family. Just writing this almost brings me to tears. Between a lack of sleep and the emotions of this event I'm not sure just what to do :-)
While we were riding the bus last night from Guangzhou to Hong Kong I glanced over at Diana as she was holding a sleeping Gracie and it hit me just how right that it all was. All of the time, paperwork, anxious moments, delays, more delays, more paperwork, and all of the money boils down to this moment of a precious little girl asleep in her mother's arms.
It didn't matter any more that Gracie had been abondoned by her birth parents at a carwash. She is now ours forever and when we clear US Immigration and Customs it will all be final. As it is right now there's no turning back but those final moments of waiting will be so worth it.
At the Portland airport Gracie will meet her new grandparents and some other members of her forever family. She'll probably be scared but that won't last for long once she realizes how Christmas works :-)
Often when I look at her I wonder what's going through her mind how much she remembers of her life the way it was and what she thinks about us.
One thing I know is that this journey has been a powerful reminder of the lengths to which God went to express His love to us and if this is in some small way how He feels when His orphaned children come home then His heart is blessed beyond measure.

Homeward Bound

2009-11-06T15:06:00.001-08:00

We're sitting in the Hong Kong airport getting ready for the first leg of our flight home. First stop Tokyo then PDX.

We went to the Guangzhou zoo yesterday and saw the panda bear and some other great animals. It was really nice.

We also got Gracie's Passport and Visa.

Looking forward to getting home. Last night was crazy we had to go through customs to get into Hong Kong and then our driver had no idea we were going to a hotel. But we finally got checked in and got a few hours of shut eye and 430 wake up call.

See you all soon!

One More Night in Guangzhou

2009-11-05T04:07:00.000-08:00

Pics: Family picture day and with the Doerr's the other Oregon family.

Today was 'wall' day. When runners race in a marathon there's a point in the race when they're close to the finish but their bodies are telling them that they can't go any farther that's the point in the race called the wall. That's how it felt today. It's been a great trip but we're ready to come home and settle in to a routine.

Today was our swearing in ceremony at the US Consolate. The room was full of familes all adopting children. The woman who administered the oath began by giving a little speech about the US foreign service which seemed to drag on forever. I was holding Gracie and she decided to fuss and start getting loud which prompted the woman to get on with the oath. No I did not pinch Gracie she did it on her own.

Tomorrow we get Gracie's US passport and visa which means she will be a US citizen the minute we touch down in Portland, OR. Hooray!

Today Gracie said 'ma ma' for the first time, of course Diana was in the other room and didn't hear it. But at least Sarah and I heard it and could tell her.

We also took group pictures today with all of the familes and kids. It was quite a crazy few moments.

Gracie didn't take a nap today so she's pretty fussy tonight. She has been chatting alot today and when we walked by the duck kitchen she reached out her hand and pretended to eat the duck. She also started hopping around like a bunny in the room this morning. Too cute!!

Tomorrow evening we get to take a 'public' bus from Guangzhou to Hong Kong they told us the ride is 3 - 4 hours long. I'm hoping the bus is like a Grayhound bus, but we'll see.

We'll spend the night in the hotel at the Hong Kong airport. There will be one other family from our group staying at the same hotel so we'll have some company.

Hopefully I'll have a chance to make an update before we head out on Saturday morning, but if not we'll see you at PDX at 7:50A on Saturday, Nov. 7. NW Flight 0786

Quick hitters:

The Chinese buracracy is more efficient than the US one.

Shopping in China is raw capitalism at work. More so than America. Almost everything is negotiable.

Consolate Appointment Completed

2009-11-04T06:17:00.000-08:00

Today was another big milestone day our appointment with the US Consolate was this morning and this is the appointment where they check our final US paperwork so they can issue her US passort and visa. What this means is that she can travel back to the US with us (a very good thing) and we don't have to stay in China any additional time (another very good thing). Tomorrow we go in for the official swearing in at the US consolate which is where we take an oath that all the information we've told them is true and accurate. Then we'll get her Us Passport and Visa and when we touch down in US Gracie will be a US Citizen (another very good thing!)
We have had one unfortunate situation occur. We have discovered that we are missing $1050. We think that somehow it was stolen either in Beijing or Nanning. Since We didn't need any extra cash in Nanning and because only part of the money was taken we didn't notice until we got to Guangzhou. We had hotel security check the video and key entries to our room but no one entered during the time in Guangzhou when it could have happened. So it had to happen before got here. There's a very remote chance we've misplaced it but that would be so unlikely its really not possible. Anyway, please pray that we get this resolved before we leave China. We have enough cash to get us by so its not an emergency. Just really disappointing.
Sarah and I are sitting in Starbuck's doing some homework.
We finished the day by going shopping and having dinner on Shiaman Island by the White Swan Hotel. We finished all of our gift shopping.
When we got home it was bath time for Gracie which is always fun time for her. Then when bath was done and Gracie was playing on the bed she started calling me daddy. Oh man she's really buttering me up!
Quick hitters:
They have weight loss products advertised on TV in China. It's really funny because they really have to work hard to make the before and after pictures look different. Let's just say that there aren't very many 'fat' people here.
The only American football highlight I've seen here was Brett Favre. He's big in China too, but Yao, Kobe and LeBron are more popular.

A Walk in The Park

2009-11-03T05:39:00.000-08:00

Pics: walking in the park across the street from our hotel.

Today was a nice day off the clock. We had the whole day to spend together without having to rush anywhere or go to a specific meeting. So we slept in a bit this morning and then came back to the room for a rest.

Later the girls all went shopping while I made a phone call and then I went down to the lobby to check my email and fantasy football scores. The girls brought back McDonalds for lunch again today. Its much less expensive than the hotel plus its familiar and the fries actually taste better than back home because they can still use beef tallow here.

After lunch we went to the lake park across the street from the hotel. Its not simple to cross the street here you have to go down underground and follow the Chinese signs to where you're going. We almost made a wrong turn but noticed our mistake and found the park,

Its a beautiful park with a large lake in the center and a tiled walk all the way around it. The had an area for kids to play and a section with at least 6 ping pong tables all busy bring used. Everyone we saw could beat most of the people I know with their eyes closed. they are good.

We saw several brides and grooms getting pictures taken while we were there. This time of year is considered good luck to get married in China.

Gracie is an amazing little girl. She was eating all day today and she actually threw some good ol' 2 year old temper tantrums. The good news is that they don't last long.

There were some cute moments in the park. She saw the trees and leaves and started chattering. She chattered when she saw the birds. It was so adorable. In the shops here you see lots of those mechanical waving cats you often see in the states in Chinese food places. Gracie loves to see those and she chatters at them too.

Yesterday we received an email from a woman who was helping sponsor the orphanage Gracie was assigned to. They provided resources for children to be in foster homes and Gracie was one of those children. Turns out this woman and a group she belongs to had actually been sponsoring Gracie and get this the agency had assigned her the english name 'Sarah'. Just another confirmation that God was working on this all along.

We also received some pictures of Gracie and her foster mom and the other girls with her in this foster home. They were taken two or three weeks before we came to China.

Quick hitters:

Wifi isn't as easy to find here as in the States, however its free at Starbuck's as long as you buy something you can sit down and surf. There happens to be a Starbuck's in our hotel but security might be getting suspicious of this foreign guy who keeps hanging around the door with this little handheld device.

Guangzhou is much more expensive than Nanning.

Hotel TV stinks unless you speak Chinese. No American football here.

Chinese commercials are a lot like in the US only in Chinese and some strange products but they use the same themes and ideas. They also use very anglo looking Chinese in the commercials. American/Euro is the desired look.

Its Official I'm Ba Ba

2009-11-02T03:54:00.000-08:00

Pic: Gracie Li playing. What a Smile!

The TB skin test was normal! No chest x-ray and the last medical hurdle is now behind us. PTL.

After the test was checked we went to the shopping area near the classic White Swan Hotel where almost all of the adoptive familes used to stay because it so close to the American consolate, medical exam and of course shopping. Did i say shopping? There's no such thing as a firm price of the island and when you go to the shops that are a little off the main street they give you stuff to get you to come in a shop. Let's just say we bought some nice stuff for little money.

After shopping we went back to our room for some R&R and while Diana was napping I was playing on the floor with Gracie. Sarah was near by doing something else and suddenly the skies opened and this little angelic voice said 'ba ba' (the Chinese equal to pa pa or daddy)!!! Then she said it again and again and again with the biggest grin on her face. Those were the first 'words' that Gracie had spoken other than a little jabbering. Of course Diana missed it since she was napping but Sarah heard it so I have a witness.

Then a little later Gracie was playing with Sarah's 'Hannah' doll and prending to check her diaper and change her and after she finished she said 'good girl' to Hannah which is what Diana always says after she changes Gracie. Then as she was playing with Hannah she called her 'baby.'

These were her first words with us and probably her first english words ever. It was a great day!

We just finished dinner and it was quite an event. Gracie wanted me to feed her noodles using my chop sticks. It was like a mama bird feeding a baby chick. It was so cute. We were all laughing.

Tomorrow is an easy day for us. No appointments so we have a free day to do whatever we want. Maybe the zoo or more shopping or both.

Wednesday (Tuesday in US) will be our US consolate appointment. After that they will issue Gracie's US citizen paperwork, passport and visa and she will be offically ours in both countries. Right now she's officially ours in China, but not the US. That all changes Wednesday.

More to come.......

Guangzhou Day 2

2009-11-01T02:01:00.000-08:00

Pics: Outside of cultural museum and an artist who wrote our names in Chinese characters.

Today we went to a cultural museum. Turns out that the Chen family is the most prolific Chinese family and the most wealthy. Way back they built a private ancestral worship temple which was also a school for their children. Now it's a folk art and cultural museum where you can see demonstrations of Chinese art styles and old carvings and relics so I fit right in.

After that we went to a tea house where we learned more about tea than I ever wanted to know. It's a big deal here.

Cute moment of the day came at the tea house. I was carrying Gracie and I asked her 'where's ba ba?' and she smiled and took her little hand and patted my chest. It's a good thing she doesn't yet know how to ask for stuff because she had me right in the palm of her hand and could have asked for anything and she probably would have gotten it.

The rest of the evening is free for us so we'll relax and mentally prepare for the TB test results tomorrow. Please pray it goes well so Gracie doesn't have to endure the ordeal of a chest xray.

Pray for Diana to be healed of her cold quickly.

I was pondering today about how blessed we are. Everyone who sees Gracie comments on how beautiful she is and how they can't even tell why she's considered a special needs child. She is an absolute wonder and its clear to us that Jesus hand picked her for our family even before she was formed in the womb. While we'll probably never know why her birth parents made the decision to abandon her at that car wash 29 months ago we feel blessed to be chosen as the agents of her redemption from an uncertain future and that no matter what happens from now on her life will be better than it would have been and so will ours. Who knows but she may grow up to own a whole chain of car washes now wouldn't that be a God sized turn about and a big ol' black eye to the enemy who tried to destroy her!

Speaking of which apparently the devil checked out of the hotel I haven't seen him at all today. Maybe he got swine flu since the last time I saw him he was with a nurse and doctor. Serves him right.

Passed Medical Tests

2009-10-31T06:59:00.000-07:00

The pics are of our new family with Glen who was ourc guide in Nanning and the second is Gracie Li Hope's first airplane ride.

We left Nanning for Guangzhou and arrived safely. Gracie did really well on the flight except at landing when the descent was so fast that the cabin pressure didn't equalize and her ears hurt. It was really bad because my ears even hurt and that never happens. We arrived only to find out that Gracie's medical tests were one day earlier than expected. It was a grueling ordeal for her. Unlike the US the medical clinics here are production line type affairs. We had to visit three doctors in three rooms for three different tests and in each room Gracie started screaming as soon as she saw the white coats of the doctors. It was also a hurry up and wait deal after you finished one you went and waited in another area. Crazy! But we made it and heard the most important words of all "No fever" important because fever is immediate quaranteen because of swine flu fears and here they do an IV in the baby's head to treat fever.

The last hurdle is the results of the tb test on Monday (Sunday US) Pray that goes well then we're done with doctors. If not then chest x-ray. We don't want to do that! Gracie's loudest screams were for the ENT doc and after the appointment he told us she had good lungs and I said sorry about his ears:)

I (dad) spent 2.5 hours filling out paperwork with a group of parents in our group. What an ordeal but should be the last of our paperwork. It's all of the US immigration paperwork required to make Gracie a US citizen. After filling all of these out it's no wonder people try to get into the US illegally! FYI our federal government needs a lesson on making paperwork more uniform.

Our hotel here is very plush which is a nice break. I'm feeling much better but Diana now has a cold which is NOT good. Pray for her!

Tonight there is a Halloweer Party going on and thedevil just walked into the room where I'm typing this. Weird indeed! Guangzhou is a very cosmopolitan city a trading center so there are lots of people from all over the world at our hotel.

We had McDonald's for dinner last night. After a week and a half of Chinese food (the real stuff) it was nice to have some american food. Best double cheese burger ever :) Tonight we had a Japanese meal in China. I ate shashimi (raw fish) a shrimp head and some other interesting stuff but it was all good. Gracie ate rice and noddles and some other veggies and she pigged out and even showed us some chop stick skills.

Tomorrow we sight see in the morning then have the afternoon off to relax.

More tomorrow. Blessings

More from Nanning

2009-10-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

This picture is of Gracie in a beautiful red outfit her foster mom had dressed her in to meet us.
Tonight is our last night in Nanning, Guangxi province. Today we went to a park on a mountain and saw some beautiful sculptures and visited a buddist temple. I got in trouble for taking a picture of budda. We are learning more and more about Gracie. Today we learned that when she doesn't get her way she just sits down and won't move until she's ready. It was really funny to watch.
She's also beginning to learn more about us and one way she's coping with these new people in her life is taking turns playing favorites. One time she's MaMa's girl the big sister's girl, then BaBa's girl. yesterday was a daddy's girl moment while we were watching a Chinese children's show Gracie came over to me and wanted to sit on my lap. Awwww man was that a real heart warmer since it was her first indepentent sign of acceptance of me.
There were some other tear jerker moments. The day we got her we came to the room and she was still upset with all the changes and these strange people. She didn't want anything to do with us until I handed her a bag of her formula. Then she carried it around with her for a while. Then we got her settled down enough to take a family photo together. Then after a while we offered her a Cheerio and she started taking hands fulls of them so we gave her a little bowl and she started putting all the Cheerios in the bowl. So she was holding her formula bag and a bowl of Cheerios. We showed her how to eat them and she put her little fingers in the bowl and took a Cherrio then (tear jerker alert) offered to feed it to me (dad) and she put it in my mouth then after 2 or 3 Cheerios I took a Cheerio and offered it to Gracie and she ate it out of my hand Diana and I almost lost it at that moment because it was her first gesture of acceptance of us. Sheesh was that amazing.

We thought we would be the only westerners here but it turns out there are six other families who's adopted with us her. We see them at breakfast and strolling around town (we're pretty easy to spot) We've even met a family from Vancouver WA (the Hagedorn's) we had to travel to Nanning China to meet our neigbors! Small world indeed!
Gracie loves the water and especially bath time and tonight she actually started a wrestling match with daddy! She laughs at Ba Ba (Chinese version of Da Da) all the time.
Please keep us in you prayers. I (dad) have a cold, pray no one else gets it and that I get over it quickly.
Pray for us and the the other familes who are flying to Guangzhou tomorrow. Its about a one hour flight but with freshly minted toddlers who don't understand english in tow that's a long time.
Pray Gracie's medical appointment on Sunday (Saturday US) for its really important that this goes well.

Quick hitters:
Far fewer people speak english here than in Beijing which has made for some interesting moments.
In China you can take a picture of the outside of a Walmart but not the inside (I got caught trying to take a picture of the raw squid section).
Traffic is crazy here too! From what our guide told us its a lot like the rules of boating back home biggest vehicle has the right of way and bikes and pedestrians are last on the food chain.
We're a tourist attraction especially with a Chinese baby in tow.
ALL the guys think Sarah is quite the looker.
The child's phrase for going poo poo is O bah bah the word for dad is bah bah. Coincidence?
More later.

Zoo Today

2009-10-27T23:55:00.001-07:00

We went to the zoo today with our guide, Glen. It was very nice, but much different than our zoo's back in the states. It's a more of a combination of zoo, circus, and theme park. We had a great time and Gracie Li Hope decided to try to feed the animals leaves. She such a helper and likes to feed people.

She liked the penguins but was afraid of the monkeys.

More later.

We Have Gracie Li Hope!!!

2009-10-27T01:30:00.001-07:00

Sorry we didn't update sooner but we don't have wifi at our new hotel in Nanning so I have to rent time on the hotel computer so I'll be keeping the posts short.

Yesterday was 'Gotcha' day and we met Gracie for the first time. They brought her to us at the hotel at 3:30 PM (Monday the 26th here, Sunday the 25th there.) There were several families form around the world here adoption children.

When the nanny brought her to us Gracie wasn't at all happy about the deal. In fact we know she can scream really loud! ;) But after we we able to go to our room and get better acquainted she settled down and we had a nice evening.

Today Gracie has become much more comfortable with us and was throwing a ball at Ba Ba (daddy) and jie jie (big sister) and laughing.

Today we finalized the adoption in China an Gracie is officially ours. Next step is getting her passport. We leave for Guangzhou and the last leg of our journey on Friday (Thursday US).

I've attached a couple of pics. I will write more about our experiences when I find a free wifi connection.

Beijing Day 2

2009-10-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update since we have to be up at 4:00am. Went to church this morning and Great Wall this afternoon. Wow! Tomorrow fly to Guangxi to pick up Gracie Li Hope - 'Gotcha' day.

Quick hitter;

Everyone talks loud over here.

I found out that towel sounds like taow which is Chinese for slippers. That what the house keeper brought to our room instead of a towel.

Beijing Pics - Day 1

2009-10-24T06:21:00.000-07:00

Here are three pics from today's travels...