Gotcha Day - Day 5

We left Beijing on 11/4 and flew to Zhengzhou.  Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan province.

We woke up on Monday morning and headed to the local registration office along with 10 other families.  We were told that we would be there for 2 1/2 hours and that there wasn't a lot of rhyme or reason as to when you would receive your child. 

Boy, was that the truth!  I got off of the bus and entered the building and two of the families with us had already received their children!  

What an emotional experience to stand there and observe these sacred moments.  Some children shook their heads "no" to being handed over to their new families, choosing the familiar over the unknown.  Some children were eerily quiet, sort of going into a "shut down mode."  Some children bawled & screamed.  I bawled right along with them.  In fact, I deleted the picture Sven took of me in those moments because it was definitely an ugly cry moment. ;) 

And then there was Elijah; he just slept through it - ha!  

He came to us in lots of layers (as is typical in China), sleeping & sweaty.  

Of course I cried.

Sven and I were so blessed by seeing our children meet the sibling they had prayed for for months.  

Lucy loved him right away.  

She kept hugging & kissing him.  She's such a sweet girl!

The room became more & more chaotic as the children came.  Parents held them, tried to play with them & distract them with snacks.  I have to believe that as long as I live, few things will live up to what I witnessed in that room that day.  To see all of these children,  who had literally been abandoned on the streets, be placed in the arms of people who would love them forever and give them a family was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.  

Our son is with us & we are so thrilled! We thank God for placing him in our family.

 Here are a few more pictures from that morning:

more paperwork...

Lily gave him this little monkey that plays music.  He loves it & sleeps with it all the time.

Grandma & Grandpa

Beijing - Day 2

Today we woke up and headed out for another day of touring.

 Our first stop was a jade factory. 

 It was amazing to watch them carve the jade.  There were so many beautiful things!  

Our next stop was the Great Wall of China. 

  Words cannot do justice to explain that structure. 

 Our children have studied about it this year and talked about climbing it for months. 

 It truly was a dream come true and something to cross off the "bucket list."

  The weather wasn't ideal, but we are so thankful for the opportunity to be here that it didn't dampen our spirits. 

 Once again, we were stopped every few minutes for pictures.

  The kids are really starting to get into posing; it's hilarious.

  After that, we had a delicious lunch. 

 

From there we headed to the Bird's Nest (Olympic Stadium).  

It was so amazing to be there after watching the '08 Olympics religiously.  Then the group went to watch an acrobatic show and Sven & I headed to Lang Fang to MEET OUR SON!

 Lily (the director of the foster home) picked us up and drove us to Harmony House. 

 It is in an inconspicuous apartment-style building. 

 We walked in and heard lots of children, but I didn't see him.  

As we rounded the corner into the main living room, I saw him in the middle of the room by himself.

Hmmmm, I'm kind of at a loss for describing that moment. 

 It seemed so surreal. 

 I couldn't believe how huge he was!  

I knelt down beside him and started talking to him. 

 He stared at me very intently. 

 I picked him up after a couple of minutes and he just snuggled in.  

Every once in awhile he would just stare at me.

 All of the nannies kept telling him (very loudly) "mama" and would point to Sven and say, "papa."  

The poor little guy was very confused and started to cry. 

 I was able to comfort him most of the time.

We took Lucy with us.  

The other children enjoyed looking at her, and Elijah reached out for her hand. 

She wasn't quite sure what to think of him.  

They are exactly the same height, but he's quite a bit more...shall we say, rotund? ;)

Sven was so excited to meet and hold his new son.

 We were able to watch them give him a bath (which he hated) and put him to bed.

 I loved whispering to him how much we love him and how much we have prayed for him. 

 I told him that we couldn't wait to be his mommy & daddy and that we would never abandon him.  

He is sweet and I cannot wait to have him in our family.

 

I mean, I really cannot wait to have him in our family.  

I do love him already and am excited to make many memories together.  However, what really impressed me upon this first meeting was this: he needs us.  

Really, really needs us.  

He needs people to talk to him all day long, to play with him, to pick him up when he cries, to unconditionally love him.

All of those kids need a family.  

 Every.Single.One.  

The little boy who wouldn't let go of Sven's leg needs a family. 

The newborn with down syndrome in the crib next to Elijah needs a family. 

 Unfortunately, it is so difficult to find one that they are sending her back to the orphanage. 

All of the babies in the nursery need a family. 

 The older child, who was once mistreated by his foster parents because of his ADHD, needs a family.

  The 4 year old little girl just begging for attention needs a family. 

 I know you probably clicked on this blog just to see how things were going here and to see our precious first meeting with Elijah, so I apologize for being such a downer. 

 But here's the thing, I can't stop thinking about those other children. 

 I looked into their eyes & held them on my lap and saw those babies lined up in rows of cribs and it just broke my heart. 

 I cannot imagine what it does to the heart of the One who made them and knows that they are each precious treasures.  

So to sum up our time with Elijah: we are in love with him already, can't believe how big he is, are so thankful for his foster home, can hardly wait to call him our own and are now praying for pretty much everyone we know to adopt a child who is in desperate need of a family. ;) 

Could that be you?

Oh, and as much as I know he needs us, we need him as well.
We can't wait until he's really ours.

Beijing - Day 1

We woke up somewhere between 1-2 am - jet lag is a beast.  

We ate at a wonderful, diverse breakfast buffet in our hotel.

We joined our group on a tour of a hutong (a traditional quadrangle home in Beijing) and rode in rickshaws.  

 We were able to visit a family and view their home, which was 160 years old. 

It was interesting to walk through their streets and learn more about their culture.  

 What impressed me most about this part of the tour is how much significance/meaning the Chinese place on things we wouldn't think about. 

  

 For instance, how many beams are above the doorway and how many steps are leading up to that doorway.  

These numbers would tell you about status of the family living inside.

  

 Also it would be bad luck for both of these numbers to be even or odd, there must be one of each.  

The kids are so confused as to what time it is; actually, we all are!

The man who owned this home trains and races pigeons.

He is also an artist.

An interesting car - handlebars instead of a steering wheel.

 From there, we went to learn about how silk is made.  

It was interesting to see and feel the silk in different stages.

The kids were excited to pick out some Chinese clothing.  

The girls chose dresses and Andrew chose a two-piece outfit.  

When I started to pick one for Elijah, he was quick to ask me to get the same one so that they can match. =)

After our tour, we went out for lunch.  Now we can really say we've had Chinese food.  

It was delicious, but certainly very different than what we've had in the US.

Some favorites were the egg drop soup, spicy green beans and a few things that I have no idea on their names - haha.

  From lunch we walked to Tian'an Men Square & the Forbidden City.

  Right about this time a couple of things happened: first, I realized what it must feel like to have paparazzi follow you around and second, it began to hit me that we are really, truly in China - seriously crazy.  

And apparently the Chinese people think it's crazy as well, at least based on the number of people taking our pictures. 

We were told that we would draw attention and that people would want to take our picture; however, even our guide was caught off guard by the amount of attention we received. 

 I'm guessing that the combination of blond hair, number of children and our double stroller (I don't think there are many of those here) formed the response we received today.  

People stopped us, followed us, and took our pictures so much that at one point someone in our group took a picture of all of the people taking pictures of our family. 

It was really something else.  

To stand in these historical places that I'd seen pictures of as a child was amazing. 

The beauty and magnitude of the Forbidden City is unparalleled. 

 It seemed to just keep going and going. 

There are so many rooms in the emperor's palace that if you stayed in a different room every night from the night you were born, you'd be 27 years old before you'd stayed in every room.  

Um, yeah, that's pretty huge.

Seeing this place, standing in it, I just kept thinking, "This cannot be real." 

It is also so fun to experience this with other families waiting to bring precious children home.

What a blessing it is to be here and experience this beautiful country and culture.

So here we are back in our room.  I'm not so sure anything I've written has made much sense.  I'm tired, more tired than I've ever been in my life.  My poor kiddos are super tired as well.  They're falling asleep at strange times & I'm hoping that they will adjust quickly.  But we are really so glad to be here.  It's been an amazing day, but tomorrow.....tomorrow, I get to see him.  It's not Gotcha Day, but we will get to visit his foster home and meet him.  This is a special gift & privilege.  We are so excited for the opportunity.