Transfer from Journey to Me (part 2)
04-06-12
We have been able to access our FB acounts via Logmein. Todd has posted a few videos and he'll be adding more photos on there as well.
We are headed to bed as we have another busy day of sightseeing tomorrow!
04-07-12
Today was another busy day for us! We met our guide at 8:30 and drove to a jade factory and store. It was interesting, but a bit too pricey for us to buy anything. From there we went to The Great Wall of China. We walked up way too many steps (and back down them!), but it was beautiful and such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! After the Great Wall, we went to a place to eat lunch. It was one of those family style Chinese restaurants where they bring out bowls of all kinds of food for your table to share. There was so much food! There were 5 of us at the table (us and the other FTIA family here with us), and when we finished eating, another party of 5 could have sat down and eaten our leftovers and had more than enough to eat. The food was pretty good, but I have no idea what we ate. They didn't tell us anything about the food. In fact, I don't think anyone said anything at all to us the whole time. Our guide ordered our meal and then left "to get a burger," she said! ;-)
After lunch, we did some shopping in the same building. We didn't buy anything as we are trying to get to Guangzhou before we purchase anything. We are going to fly there tomorrow, and they have stricter airline restrictions on your baggage in China than in the US. We were just barely under the Chinese weight limits when we left home, so I don't want to buy anything until after we fly to Guangzhou so we won't have to pay a fine for being over the weight limits.
After shopping we went to The Summer Palace. This is where the emporer lived during the hot summer months. It has a man-made lake and mountains so it is much cooler there. It was very pretty! The Palace grounds includes the world's longest painted corridor. Our guide said it was in the Guiness Book of World Records. It was amazing! We took a boat ride on the lake which was fun too. We have plenty of pictures but Todd needs to get them off the camera, so I'll have to add those later.
Tomorrow we leave here and go one step closer to Karis. 2 more days!!!!!
04-08-12
Today we flew from Beijing to Guangzhou and arrived safely. The flight was fine and our luggage made it with us. We met our new guide, John, when we got here and he seems very nice and very helpful. We got all checked into our room and John showed us around the area. It's raining here and Todd is feeling sick so we opted to stay in for the evening. John offered to call and order Papa John's to be delivered to us, so that's what we had for our Easter dinner!
I've been working on unpacking and settling into our room since we'll be here for 10 days. In just a few hours there will be 3 of us "living" here instead of just the 2 of us! Please pray for us and Karis as it will be a big adjustment for all of us. We are praying that God will be gracious to us and give us a quick bonding.
I thought I'd mention just a few random things I've leaned in China....
I know I've already mentioned it, but it's worth mentioning it again - The driving is crazy!
They do not have Diet Coke in China! You can sometimes find Coke Zero, but many places you cannot find any diet drinks. And, we can't drink the water unless we buy it in a bottle. So, we have actually drunk "real" soda a few times. We did manage to find some Diet Coke in one store that we bought and our guide was shocked. We mentioned it to our new guide, and he said it must have come from Hong Kong.
Chinese people eat much healthier than we do, I think. People snack on fruits and vegetables and you don't see many desserts or sweets. People walk around eating corn on the cob or a cucumber or an apple. There were no cinammon rolls or pancakes with syrup or anything like that at our breakfast buffet. The sweetest thing I found to eat was some strawberry jelly! Also, on our plane ride here from America we were served chips and cookies. Today when we flew within China we were served fruit, veggies and yogurt (which wasn't very sweet).
I'm not sure what this says about people in China, but there is a glass window between the bathroom and bedroom in our hotel. Thankfully, there is a shade you can close to cover it though!! And, that's all I'm gonna say about that!
There is not much "personal space" in China and pushing and squeezing past people is very normal. It's kind of the same way they drive.
I'm sure there is so much more I could say but I'll stop for now. We are so thankful to be here in this country so that we can add Karis to our family!
04-09-12
Monday, April 9th will be a day we will always remember, I'm sure. We are up and getting ready for our day. After breakfast John will take us to the bank to exchange our money. We have to exchange $6,670 for Chinese yuan. Right now the exchange rate is about 6 yuan per dollar. I'm not sure how large they print their currency, but the biggest thing we've seen so far is 100 yuan. We will need over 40,000 yuan. And if we get all that in 100 yuan bills, that's a lot of bills. John said it will take us over 1 hour to exchange the money, and possibly longer depending on how busy the bank is. And, he said to bring a backpack to put the money in because it will be way too much to try to carry.
After the bank, he said we should have time for lunch and then we'll drive to the Civil Affairs office to meet Karis. She will have about a 1 1/2 hour ride to get there from Zhongshan Orphanage where she's been living all her life. This will probably be the first trip she has ever made. John said we'd probably meet her around 2:30 this afternoon. We are so excited and nervous too. I remember when I went in to be induced for my first baby. It was all new and unknown and I had so many questions. That's the way I feel today too.
John mentioned that many families will get a newspaper from Gotcha Day to save! I'm so glad he mentioned that to us. I have newspapers from the day my other 2 kids were born, so I'll get one for Karis too!
The next post will hopefully include photos of us and Karis!!
04-09-12
We arrived at the Civil Affairs office around 2:30 this afternoon. Karis was already there in a separate room. John saw her and said she seemed happy. We had to look over some paperwork and then we could meet her. I thought it would take longer than it did, so I was a little surprised when John said to come meet her. We didn't have time to get out the phone to take a video and by the time Todd handed John the camera, the first few moments were over. But, when we first met her she came to us with open arms and gave us each a hug and said MaMa to me and BaBa to Todd. She had definitely been coached on what to do when she saw us! I think they had prepared her well and had showed her our pictures so she recognized us. After the hugs she was ready to go back to the familiar faces from that came with her from the orphanage. I opened the backpack we brought her to give her some toys we had brought for her. She just wanted to pull everything out to see what all was in there. We finally got her occupied with a magnetic drawing pad (thanks, Liz!). She seemed pretty content. She also had brought her own backpack with snacks and she wanted to eat everything in there. She had some dried seaweed or something like that and some chocolate and some soy milk. Then I gave her some of the Skittles we brought for her. Then she needed to go potty and she let me take her. She is very independent and didn't need any help in that department. She was quite the squatty potty expert! So, we continued to hang out with her and John took care of paying our money and whatever else needed to be done. It's all kind of a blur. After everything was complete the orphanage workers gave us a gift and we gave them their gifts and they were ready to go. When they said goodbye Karis lost it. She just started crying and crying. Thankfully, the staff just left and did not try to drag things out. John was sooooo great with her. He just kept talking to her and trying to make her feel better. I don't know what all he said, but he told us that food seemed to calm her down. She really didn't cry too long but after she stopped she had a few more bursts of tears. Then John told her we'd go to the store to buy her some food and he was asking her what she liked. So, we left and went to the grocery store and let her pick out some snacks. She had another round of crying in the car but she let me hold her and John talked with her to calm her down again. She cried again when we entered the hotel. We went up to our room and John came with us and we showed her her bed and her toys we brought for her. John shared some information with us that he had received from the orphanage staff regarding her schedule and what she eats, etc. By this time it was after 5 and she was ready for dinner. John went with us down to a restaurant in the hotel and ordered for us. Karis ate about 3 bowls of wonton soup and one bowl of fried rice and some sweet and sour pork. That girl can eat! She had a couple of more rounds of crying in the restaurant before our food came. Thankfully, she let me hold her and John talked with her to calm her down. After dinner John told her we'd take her to they playground they have in the hotel and she seemed happy. Then he told her goodbye and we were afraid she'd cry but she didn't. We took her to the playground, but she wasn't interested in playing so we just came back to our room. BaBa found some Chinese kid videos on the computer that they watched together. She got to see her brother and sister briefly on Skype and then it was time to get ready for bed. I changed her into pj's and brushed her teeth and put her in bed and she didn't fuss at all. She was asleep pretty quickly. We are so thankful that things seemed to go very well even with the bursts of tears. We pray that she will learn to love us and trust us soon. You can check out Flickr for pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/todd_young/sets/72157629735435087/
We are exhausted and headed to bed!
04-10-12
We've been with Karis for almost 24 hours and are enjoying getting to know her. She slept very well last night despite falling out of the bed and wetting the bed! I had to get creative after she wet the bed because I couldn't put her back in a wet bed. I pulled up the covers and let her sleep on top of them and then found a bathrobe here in the room to cover her up with. We never heard a peep out of her all night and we had to wake her up about 6:45 this morning so that we could be ready in time to meet John. We had to go back to the Civil Affairs office this morning to be interviewed and sign the official adoption paperwork. They asked us about our biological children and why we wanted to adopt. They asked us if we were "satisfied" with our child. What a terrible question! Of course we are satisfied! God has led us to our daughter and it doesn't matter what is "wrong" with her. They also asked us if we would ever abandon her or neglect her. Do you think anyone ever says Yes?? Another crazy question. We were told to bring gifts for the officials that interviewed us and we did give the first person a gift, but the second person said he did not want any more gifts! What do they do with all that stuff anyway?? So, after doing all the official paperwork we left and went back to the store to buy some pull-ups! Then we came back to the hotel and John left us for the rest of the day. We had lunch in the room and have been hanging out. Karis usually takes a "nap" from 12-2 every day, but that doesn't mean she really sleeps. She just has to lay in her bed quietly, so we've just been letting her play quietly in the room. She doesn't seem sleepy at all. In a little bit we're going to head over to a park close by and try to find somewhere to eat dinner tonight where we can order food without speaking Chinese. That should be interesting!
Here are some random facts we are learning all about our daughter...
This girl can really eat a lot. And she stuffs her mouth full! It's so interesting watching the way she eats. The only utensil she uses is a spoon.
She tells us she needs to go potty by grabbing her pants and so far she has not had any accidents other than in the bed last night.
She lets us hug and kiss on her and will sometimes give us a hug if we ask her.
She was a bit slow to let Todd hold her or hold her hand, but she seems to be warming up to him.
She has the sweetest little voice, but she doesn't talk a whole lot. Even when John talks to her in Chinese, she won't always answer him. Her favorite thing to say is MaMa and BaBa when she sees us! It is soooo sweet! John mentioned that she will probably need speech therapy as she doesn't pronounce her Chinese words exactly right. We've found some Chinese videos online and when she repeats a word in Chinese we can tell that she isn't pronouncing it quite right.
She has a funny gait to her walk and will probably need some physical therapy as well. She's a little slow but she gets around just fine. They told us she was getting faster at running.
She seems to listen to instructions and obey pretty well without getting upset. If she touches something she shouldn't and we tell her no and move it out of the way she is fine with that. Well, except when she wanted to play with a knife at breakfast. She didn't want to let go of it. I had to pry it out of her fingers, but then she didn't try to get it again!
She is very independent. She has her own backpack and gets what she wants out of it. She will zip it right back up when she has gotten out whatever she wants. And she'll throw her trash away on her own. And whenever we go somewhere she goes and gets her backpack on herself and doesn't forget it!
This morning at the Civil Affairs office she had a couple of short crying spells. Once again John talked with her and she calmed down quickly. I think being in the office just brought back the memory of leaving the people she has known all her life.
She has a cute little bottom lip and chin quiver. I think it might be some sort of self soothing thing as she does it when she is unsure about what is going on.
I'm sure we'll soon know much more about our daughter and we are enjoying the journey. It is very hard to not be able to talk with her though. I wish she could tell us what she is thinking! And I wish she could understand our words of comfort and assurance for her. I really look forward to her learning English!
We have been able to access our FB acounts via Logmein. Todd has posted a few videos and he'll be adding more photos on there as well.
We are headed to bed as we have another busy day of sightseeing tomorrow!
04-07-12
Today was another busy day for us! We met our guide at 8:30 and drove to a jade factory and store. It was interesting, but a bit too pricey for us to buy anything. From there we went to The Great Wall of China. We walked up way too many steps (and back down them!), but it was beautiful and such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! After the Great Wall, we went to a place to eat lunch. It was one of those family style Chinese restaurants where they bring out bowls of all kinds of food for your table to share. There was so much food! There were 5 of us at the table (us and the other FTIA family here with us), and when we finished eating, another party of 5 could have sat down and eaten our leftovers and had more than enough to eat. The food was pretty good, but I have no idea what we ate. They didn't tell us anything about the food. In fact, I don't think anyone said anything at all to us the whole time. Our guide ordered our meal and then left "to get a burger," she said! ;-)
After lunch, we did some shopping in the same building. We didn't buy anything as we are trying to get to Guangzhou before we purchase anything. We are going to fly there tomorrow, and they have stricter airline restrictions on your baggage in China than in the US. We were just barely under the Chinese weight limits when we left home, so I don't want to buy anything until after we fly to Guangzhou so we won't have to pay a fine for being over the weight limits.
After shopping we went to The Summer Palace. This is where the emporer lived during the hot summer months. It has a man-made lake and mountains so it is much cooler there. It was very pretty! The Palace grounds includes the world's longest painted corridor. Our guide said it was in the Guiness Book of World Records. It was amazing! We took a boat ride on the lake which was fun too. We have plenty of pictures but Todd needs to get them off the camera, so I'll have to add those later.
Tomorrow we leave here and go one step closer to Karis. 2 more days!!!!!
04-08-12
Today we flew from Beijing to Guangzhou and arrived safely. The flight was fine and our luggage made it with us. We met our new guide, John, when we got here and he seems very nice and very helpful. We got all checked into our room and John showed us around the area. It's raining here and Todd is feeling sick so we opted to stay in for the evening. John offered to call and order Papa John's to be delivered to us, so that's what we had for our Easter dinner!
I've been working on unpacking and settling into our room since we'll be here for 10 days. In just a few hours there will be 3 of us "living" here instead of just the 2 of us! Please pray for us and Karis as it will be a big adjustment for all of us. We are praying that God will be gracious to us and give us a quick bonding.
I thought I'd mention just a few random things I've leaned in China....
I know I've already mentioned it, but it's worth mentioning it again - The driving is crazy!
They do not have Diet Coke in China! You can sometimes find Coke Zero, but many places you cannot find any diet drinks. And, we can't drink the water unless we buy it in a bottle. So, we have actually drunk "real" soda a few times. We did manage to find some Diet Coke in one store that we bought and our guide was shocked. We mentioned it to our new guide, and he said it must have come from Hong Kong.
Chinese people eat much healthier than we do, I think. People snack on fruits and vegetables and you don't see many desserts or sweets. People walk around eating corn on the cob or a cucumber or an apple. There were no cinammon rolls or pancakes with syrup or anything like that at our breakfast buffet. The sweetest thing I found to eat was some strawberry jelly! Also, on our plane ride here from America we were served chips and cookies. Today when we flew within China we were served fruit, veggies and yogurt (which wasn't very sweet).
I'm not sure what this says about people in China, but there is a glass window between the bathroom and bedroom in our hotel. Thankfully, there is a shade you can close to cover it though!! And, that's all I'm gonna say about that!
There is not much "personal space" in China and pushing and squeezing past people is very normal. It's kind of the same way they drive.
I'm sure there is so much more I could say but I'll stop for now. We are so thankful to be here in this country so that we can add Karis to our family!
04-09-12
Monday, April 9th will be a day we will always remember, I'm sure. We are up and getting ready for our day. After breakfast John will take us to the bank to exchange our money. We have to exchange $6,670 for Chinese yuan. Right now the exchange rate is about 6 yuan per dollar. I'm not sure how large they print their currency, but the biggest thing we've seen so far is 100 yuan. We will need over 40,000 yuan. And if we get all that in 100 yuan bills, that's a lot of bills. John said it will take us over 1 hour to exchange the money, and possibly longer depending on how busy the bank is. And, he said to bring a backpack to put the money in because it will be way too much to try to carry.
After the bank, he said we should have time for lunch and then we'll drive to the Civil Affairs office to meet Karis. She will have about a 1 1/2 hour ride to get there from Zhongshan Orphanage where she's been living all her life. This will probably be the first trip she has ever made. John said we'd probably meet her around 2:30 this afternoon. We are so excited and nervous too. I remember when I went in to be induced for my first baby. It was all new and unknown and I had so many questions. That's the way I feel today too.
John mentioned that many families will get a newspaper from Gotcha Day to save! I'm so glad he mentioned that to us. I have newspapers from the day my other 2 kids were born, so I'll get one for Karis too!
The next post will hopefully include photos of us and Karis!!
04-09-12
We arrived at the Civil Affairs office around 2:30 this afternoon. Karis was already there in a separate room. John saw her and said she seemed happy. We had to look over some paperwork and then we could meet her. I thought it would take longer than it did, so I was a little surprised when John said to come meet her. We didn't have time to get out the phone to take a video and by the time Todd handed John the camera, the first few moments were over. But, when we first met her she came to us with open arms and gave us each a hug and said MaMa to me and BaBa to Todd. She had definitely been coached on what to do when she saw us! I think they had prepared her well and had showed her our pictures so she recognized us. After the hugs she was ready to go back to the familiar faces from that came with her from the orphanage. I opened the backpack we brought her to give her some toys we had brought for her. She just wanted to pull everything out to see what all was in there. We finally got her occupied with a magnetic drawing pad (thanks, Liz!). She seemed pretty content. She also had brought her own backpack with snacks and she wanted to eat everything in there. She had some dried seaweed or something like that and some chocolate and some soy milk. Then I gave her some of the Skittles we brought for her. Then she needed to go potty and she let me take her. She is very independent and didn't need any help in that department. She was quite the squatty potty expert! So, we continued to hang out with her and John took care of paying our money and whatever else needed to be done. It's all kind of a blur. After everything was complete the orphanage workers gave us a gift and we gave them their gifts and they were ready to go. When they said goodbye Karis lost it. She just started crying and crying. Thankfully, the staff just left and did not try to drag things out. John was sooooo great with her. He just kept talking to her and trying to make her feel better. I don't know what all he said, but he told us that food seemed to calm her down. She really didn't cry too long but after she stopped she had a few more bursts of tears. Then John told her we'd go to the store to buy her some food and he was asking her what she liked. So, we left and went to the grocery store and let her pick out some snacks. She had another round of crying in the car but she let me hold her and John talked with her to calm her down again. She cried again when we entered the hotel. We went up to our room and John came with us and we showed her her bed and her toys we brought for her. John shared some information with us that he had received from the orphanage staff regarding her schedule and what she eats, etc. By this time it was after 5 and she was ready for dinner. John went with us down to a restaurant in the hotel and ordered for us. Karis ate about 3 bowls of wonton soup and one bowl of fried rice and some sweet and sour pork. That girl can eat! She had a couple of more rounds of crying in the restaurant before our food came. Thankfully, she let me hold her and John talked with her to calm her down. After dinner John told her we'd take her to they playground they have in the hotel and she seemed happy. Then he told her goodbye and we were afraid she'd cry but she didn't. We took her to the playground, but she wasn't interested in playing so we just came back to our room. BaBa found some Chinese kid videos on the computer that they watched together. She got to see her brother and sister briefly on Skype and then it was time to get ready for bed. I changed her into pj's and brushed her teeth and put her in bed and she didn't fuss at all. She was asleep pretty quickly. We are so thankful that things seemed to go very well even with the bursts of tears. We pray that she will learn to love us and trust us soon. You can check out Flickr for pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/todd_young/sets/72157629735435087/
We are exhausted and headed to bed!
04-10-12
We've been with Karis for almost 24 hours and are enjoying getting to know her. She slept very well last night despite falling out of the bed and wetting the bed! I had to get creative after she wet the bed because I couldn't put her back in a wet bed. I pulled up the covers and let her sleep on top of them and then found a bathrobe here in the room to cover her up with. We never heard a peep out of her all night and we had to wake her up about 6:45 this morning so that we could be ready in time to meet John. We had to go back to the Civil Affairs office this morning to be interviewed and sign the official adoption paperwork. They asked us about our biological children and why we wanted to adopt. They asked us if we were "satisfied" with our child. What a terrible question! Of course we are satisfied! God has led us to our daughter and it doesn't matter what is "wrong" with her. They also asked us if we would ever abandon her or neglect her. Do you think anyone ever says Yes?? Another crazy question. We were told to bring gifts for the officials that interviewed us and we did give the first person a gift, but the second person said he did not want any more gifts! What do they do with all that stuff anyway?? So, after doing all the official paperwork we left and went back to the store to buy some pull-ups! Then we came back to the hotel and John left us for the rest of the day. We had lunch in the room and have been hanging out. Karis usually takes a "nap" from 12-2 every day, but that doesn't mean she really sleeps. She just has to lay in her bed quietly, so we've just been letting her play quietly in the room. She doesn't seem sleepy at all. In a little bit we're going to head over to a park close by and try to find somewhere to eat dinner tonight where we can order food without speaking Chinese. That should be interesting!
Here are some random facts we are learning all about our daughter...
This girl can really eat a lot. And she stuffs her mouth full! It's so interesting watching the way she eats. The only utensil she uses is a spoon.
She tells us she needs to go potty by grabbing her pants and so far she has not had any accidents other than in the bed last night.
She lets us hug and kiss on her and will sometimes give us a hug if we ask her.
She was a bit slow to let Todd hold her or hold her hand, but she seems to be warming up to him.
She has the sweetest little voice, but she doesn't talk a whole lot. Even when John talks to her in Chinese, she won't always answer him. Her favorite thing to say is MaMa and BaBa when she sees us! It is soooo sweet! John mentioned that she will probably need speech therapy as she doesn't pronounce her Chinese words exactly right. We've found some Chinese videos online and when she repeats a word in Chinese we can tell that she isn't pronouncing it quite right.
She has a funny gait to her walk and will probably need some physical therapy as well. She's a little slow but she gets around just fine. They told us she was getting faster at running.
She seems to listen to instructions and obey pretty well without getting upset. If she touches something she shouldn't and we tell her no and move it out of the way she is fine with that. Well, except when she wanted to play with a knife at breakfast. She didn't want to let go of it. I had to pry it out of her fingers, but then she didn't try to get it again!
She is very independent. She has her own backpack and gets what she wants out of it. She will zip it right back up when she has gotten out whatever she wants. And she'll throw her trash away on her own. And whenever we go somewhere she goes and gets her backpack on herself and doesn't forget it!
This morning at the Civil Affairs office she had a couple of short crying spells. Once again John talked with her and she calmed down quickly. I think being in the office just brought back the memory of leaving the people she has known all her life.
She has a cute little bottom lip and chin quiver. I think it might be some sort of self soothing thing as she does it when she is unsure about what is going on.
I'm sure we'll soon know much more about our daughter and we are enjoying the journey. It is very hard to not be able to talk with her though. I wish she could tell us what she is thinking! And I wish she could understand our words of comfort and assurance for her. I really look forward to her learning English!
posted by Heather @ 2:53 PM
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