Jan 24 - Sightseeing Shamian Island

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Well, Ben and I got about 11 hours of sleep last night and Lucee over 12. What are we gonna do when reality hits and we can't sleep this long??!! We got to Skype with the kids this morning before heading down for breakfast. The boys got to go ice fishing with papa and Lilee had a date with Nana. They are so cute and we miss them sooooooooooooooooooooo (there aren't enough O's to show how much we miss them) much! It seems like the end is in sight, only 5 more days till we see them!!!

This morning, Lucee seems to be more attached to Ben than me. It's kind of hard, to love someone so much but they don't want to interact with you. I know this will pass and in bit she'll want me again, but for now, it's difficult. Anytime I try helping her or ask her something she says 'no' to me.

We go down to breakfast and I was able to talk with a family from Kentucky who is here for their second adoption of a girl who turns 2 years old in 7 days. Their first girl they adopted when she was 9 months old and she is now 6 years old. It was nice to see there is hope for the future, she will eventually feel a part of our family and feel safe with us.

After breakfast, we met our guide to go to Shamian Island to do some shopping for souvenirs. He took us to an area that had been built by the British when they invaded over a hundred years ago. It is called an island because it is a bunch of buildings together with a waterway built around it like an island. The buildings are beautiful and there are statues throughout that are famous. We went into 2 shops where we found most of our souvenirs for our kids back home. We wished the weather was better, because we would've loved to walk around and explore it more. However, it began sleeting so we decided to head back to the hotel. On the drive home it began snowing a few big snowflakes. Our driver who is almost 60 years old and has lived in Guangzhou his whole life has never seen it snow here. We saw people come out of buildings and take pictures of the “snow”. I say “snow” because it didn't even stick, but just a few sparse flakes here and there. But to them, they may have never seen it at all. So it was a big deal.

We got back to the hotel and Ben went to get our lunch to bring back to the hotel for us all to eat. He got chicken and rice and a Big Mac from McDonald's. This was the first time Lucee ate most of her meal, which was encouraging cause she hasn't eaten much the past couple days besides yogurt and bananas. After lunch, it was Ben's turn to attempt to put her down for a nap. Shockingly there was no struggle at all. She just laid down next to him and she fell asleep without any crying or screaming. She slept for about an hour and a half and then woke up in a great mood where everything is fun and she laughs at everything.

We heard there was a great Thai restaurant nearby so after playing in the hotel room, we decided to brave the windy, cold night and walk around to find the Thai restaurant. After walking around for about a half an hour, with no Thai place in site, we decided to go with the good ole' trusty Beef and Noodle place we've come to rely on. We got beef noodles for Ben and I, and tried a different dish of noodles and chicken broth with veggies for Lucee. We got back to the hotel and she ate about half of her dish (again, a huge improvement and we were thankful that she is eating more.) and we enjoyed our beef and noodles. Tomorrow we will ask our guide where this famous Thai restaurant is... Tonight, Lucee enjoyed another long bubble bath while I washed as many clothes as I could in the bathroom sink.

Tonight we were planning on spending some time together after she fell asleep, so we acted like we were going to sleep with her, but since she ended up taking over an hour to fall asleep, we all fell asleep at basically the same time tonight. 

Fancy car in our hotel lobby... Ben would remember what kind it is, I have no clue :)

Shamian Island

There are lots of statues here!!

Shamian Island - beautiful building

The baby whisperer... and his baby.

Her favorite transportation :)  Daddy's shoulders.

Eating dinner in our room...

She loves noodles!!!!

Jan 23 - Health Exam and First Day in Guangzhou

*** FYI - All families who adopt from China have to go to Guangzhou to complete the adoption process.  Also, you pronounce it like Gwong Joe :)

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Today we got up and got ready for the heath exam. I made sure to pack a sucker (for after her TB blood draw – they do a blood draw to test for TB rather than the usual test of giving a shot and checking 2 days later for a reaction... the blood draw is generally more accurate than the shot.) and toys to occupy her time as it could take up to 2 hours being there on a busy Saturday morning. We went down for breakfast and were shocked to see tons of American families with adopted children! We had to of seen at least 14 families sitting and eating breakfast with their kids. It was comforting, but also we wanted to talk with each one of them and hear their stories. We found out later that there were 2 large groups of families ( one group of ten families and another group of seven families) that were traveling together. We saw the family that we met at the jade factory in Beijing and talked with them to see how things were going. They were surprised by the fact that their 18month boy that they adopted seemed to have never left his crib while in the orphanage. He would go stiff when held at first and didn't make eye contact. She said that after a few days, they have seen progress in his interaction with them.

After breakfast, we met Jack in the lobby. We drove to the clinic and had Lucee's photo taken for the visa and then went upstairs to a packed waiting room. People were waiting in lines with their children. There were 4 rooms that each child had to go into. It seemed like our guide knew just what to do, because other families had been there for over an hour and we only ended up being there for about 20-30 minutes. We had her hearing tested, her temperature/weight/height taken, a doctor checked her body to make sure all was healthy. He seemed shocked that she could walk on her own without any device to help her. Then the last room was the blood draw. They thankfully don't let the parents go in. We waited outside and she emerged screaming and crying. I held her till she calmed down and then we left. Jack came up to our room to get all the paperwork that we brought from Changsha. He would be organizing it and looking over it to prepare everything for the interview on Tuesday at the Embassy. He noticed that the documents had a gap in them. They said that she was found at the hospital 6 days after her birth, but that she didn't go to the orphanage until 5 months later. He said that the Embassy might not be okay with that information gap and that he would find out where she was for those 5 months. Come to find out, she was in the hospital during those 5 months because it was better for her to be there with her condition as a small infant than at the orphanage. After 5 months, they moved her to the orphanage where she could be cared for until we picked her up 4 years later.

We ate lunch in the room and decided today was the day we'd try for a nap. We began by praying for her and asking God to help us have patience and her to understand we love her. I took her potty and laid in bed with her, telling her in Chinese as best as I could, we are going to sleep. She began screaming and trying to get out of bed. I just kept holding her and saying, “It's okay, we're going to rest.” over and over. After about 30 minutes of her resisting, she finally calmed down and fell asleep. After she was asleep for 5-10 minutes I turned on the tv and watched '50 First Dates' with Ben while she laid in my arms fast asleep. It was like a mini date for us and we soaked it up. She slept for the entire movie and then woke up in a wonderful mood , laughing a lot and giggling with us. I took her to the play room in the hotel (MUCH better than the one in Changsha!!!) while Ben worked on homework in the room.

Then we went to the Mexican restaurant, which was very yummy. The only disappointing thing about it was they didn't serve chips and salsa like most do back in the states. :(

We got back to the room and I gave Lucee a long bath while I washed clothes in the sink. She enjoyed playing with an empty water bottle and the rubber ducky that the hotel gave her. Our other kids would love this bathtub! It's in an enclosed area that they could splash all they want and the water just runs down the drain. A kids splashing heaven. :) Lucee enjoyed it too! Then we all went to bed around 8pm with no battles or meltdowns... yes, the nap is something we need to make sure she gets most days from now on. :) 

At the Health Exam

Getting weighed and measured.

Getting her hearing tested.

Real orange trees they had everywhere in the lobby of our hotel for Chinese New Year decorations.

Jack looking over all the paperwork, making sure everything looks good for our Consulate appointment on Tuesday.

Paperwork, Paperwork...

Mexican food made by Chinese servers... love it!

The amazing bathroom...

Jan 22 - 5th Day with Lucee and Bullet Train Ride to Guangzhou

Friday, January 22, 2016

Today is the day we take the high speed bullet train from Changsha to Guangzhou. However, we don't leave the hotel until 2pm. Our guide, Ashley, is getting all the paperwork picked up and ready for us to take with us, so we don't have a guide till 2pm. We slept in and Skyped with the kids and by the time we got down to the breakfast area, there were only 20 minutes left. So, I took her around to the different foods and asked her which ones she liked. We have discovered she loves yogurt and these clear cube looking fruits. She also likes warm soy milk and bacon. The first day we had to bring the bacon in a napkin because we were late with getting to our guide and from then on, she thinks bacon belongs in a napkin and that we bring it with us. Ha ha...

We went back to our room to kill time. As I said yesterday, she is very curious about every thing and wants to find out how things work. At first, we were saying no to items that normally we wouldn't let the kids play with like fingernail clippers and routers, etc. but when we realized she just wanted to find out how they work, we began teaching her instead of just saying no and taking them away. The fingernail clippers she learned how to open and pinched them open and closed. She wanted to open up the sewing kit in our hotel with needle and thread. Our instinct was to tell her no and take it away, but Ben opened it up for her and was shocked to find out she knew how to sew!!! She began sewing her shirt with a needle and pink thread. She knew what to do at the end to tie it off and didn't prick her self at all!!! We were amazed and decided we would bring this on the plane to occupy part of the 14 hour plane ride home! We definitely want to continue this when we get back home and are looking forward to getting sewing kits for kids from the craft stores. It's either in her blood (coming from a province where silk embroidery is so popular), she's brilliant ( we already believe this to be true regardless) and learned by watching the ladies at the silk factory the other day), or the orphanage taught her to do this while she was there (a possibility, as they had an art teacher come in to teach them art, so maybe a seamstress came in to teach them how to sew?).

We ate lunch and spent the last hour playing chase in our room and 'ride the suitcase'. It's amazing what you can do in a small space with few items. Then it came time to meet our guide and say goodbye to Changsha. We drove to the train station and said goodbye to Ashley. We then had to manhandle all of our luggage (3 big suitcases, 2 duffle bags, a lap top bag and a backpack!) and a 4 ½ year old girl through the ticket line, security, up the escalator and to the 13^th gate. We waited about 30 minutes until it was time to go through the gate. We got into line and as Ben handed the tickets to the lady at the gate, she shook her head and handed them back saying something in Chinese. We were so confused and I barely heard her say, “wait!” so we waited while a bunch of other people went through. We weren't sure what was wrong, was it full? Was there something wrong with our tickets? Our guide couldn't come in past security and no one spoke English. Other people were in line with us and they weren't allowed to come through either. I looked up and saw that another train B12 was boarding now and B 13 still had 6 minutes left on it. Sure enough, they weren't boarding for 13 yet, only 12 and once the 12 train left, then we were able to manhandle all the luggage and Lucee through the gate with the crowd pushing all around us, and down the escalator to the train platform. Right before going down the escalator, an Asian man came up and said, “you need help?” we were thankful for the offer but declined. I made sure to memorize what he looked like in case we needed a translator on the train, ha ha. Even though, those may have been the only English words he knew, it was a breath of fresh air to know someone could speak a little English.

We got on our train and Lucee wanted to sit on my lap, so our 3^rd seat sat empty for the 2hr 40 minute trip. I”m sure the man next to it was happy to have the extra space. Even though we were pleasantly surprised by how spacious the train seats were! It was very comfortable! The train got up to 307km/hour. I'll have to figure out how many mph that is equal to. When it went through tunnels, my ears popped. We were very nervous with how Lucee would handle the train ride. She doesn't like to be confined to one spot for very long and definitely doesn't like to be told no. We made sure to pack lots of snacks and she ended up doing really well. In the van ride over to the train station, she got really sad looking and wanted to take off her coat. After she did that, she threw up a little, indicating she might be motion sick... hopefully the train and plane rides won't affect her.

The train ride went great, even with it taking 20 minutes longer than scheduled. It was amazing to see the countryside and the old buildings out in the middle of no where. Several times other trains would pass next to us going the opposite direction. It was crazy how fast we were going. We got to Guangzhou and grabbed all the luggage again to make it off and to the gates where we met our next guide, Jack. Instantly he reminded me of an Asian version of my Uncle Richard. He was very nice and spoke English well. He told us we'd meet tomorrow morning at 930 am to head to the clinic for Lucee's health exam and TB test which are required for her to get her US Visa. He walked us up to our room which was different than the other guides. He played with Lucee and spoke Chinese with her. Again, reminding me of how my Uncle Richard interacts with our other kids. Then he said good night and left. We unpacked a bit and then Lucee and I finished unpacking while Ben went out to get dinner. Lucee got beef noodles and Ben and I got a veggie pizza from Pizza Hut. The pizza tasted just like the Pizza Hut back home, with the tiny exception that they put corn and eggplant on the veggie pizza. Guangzhou is very westernized and it is very international as well. We have already seen almost as many foreigners as we've seen people from China. People from Africa, India, Europe, etc. and a lot of the people at our hotel speak English. We've heard from other families who have adopted from China that Guangzhou is a breath of fresh air. There's a Starbucks, KFC McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Mexican and Thai restaurant all near our hotel within walking distance. We definitely don't feel like we are in the minority as much here.

Guangzhou is a tropical place normally. We see palm trees and tropical flowers everywhere. However, we are here on the coldest weeks of the year. In fact, it's supposed to be the coldest tomorrow than it's been in over 20 years!

I forgot to mention that in the van ride from the train station to our hotel in Guangzhou, Lucee fell asleep in Ben's lap (yes, they don't use seat-belts much here and anytime we are in a vehicle, Lucee sits on one of our laps... pray for us as she gets back to America and is confined to a car seat!!). She woke up in a great mood and was very pleasant the rest of the night. This was her first “nap” she's had since she's been with us. It gave us hope that even if it's a battle, it would be good for her to have a nap (like she did in the orphanage) because there are less meltdowns the rest of the day when she napped. She also had no trouble going to sleep. Tomorrow we will attempt to have her take a nap. She slept great the whole night. One time, I woke up to her giggling in her sleep. We are so thankful that God placed this little girl in our family!

Working intently on sewing her shirt. :)

Riding the suitcase!

All packed and ready to go to the final destination!!

In Train Station

Waiting for the train...

Riding on the bullet train! 

Jan 21 - Visiting the Orphanage and Other Things...

Thursday January 21, 2016

This morning,Ben and I woke up earlier than Lucee and got ready before she woke up. She woke up on her own at 715am, probably because the lights were semi on and we were skyping with the kids who had made it safely to nana and papa's and she had wet the bed. I gave her a bath and got her dressed for the day. She seemed to be in a better mood, but wasn't acting very good toward Ben for some reason. We've noticed that she'll seem to be close to one of us and then be close with the other one at a later time. However, most of the time she seems to be in a good mood with both of us. It's at least reassuring that if she seems to not like Ben for a bit, we know it won't take long and she'll be buddy buddy with him, and vice versa with Brandee.

Today is the day we have the option to go visit the orphanage and take pictures. However, with the last day or so, we've decided not to take Lucee back, but for one of us to go take pictures while the other one stays with Lucee. We had asked Ashley for his advice since he has seen many, many adoptions take place, what his opinion was to take the kids back to the orphanage to visit. He said it's completely up to us, but that he seems to think that kids who are Lucee's age, seem to get sad and act like they wonder why they are coming back. Are they being left again? And then they go with the parents again and it's like a roller coaster of emotions, they are in an orphanage, they are not, then they are again, and then not. If we had taken her yesterday, we would've blamed ourselves that that was the reason for her shift in behavior after the 2^nd day. We were thankful that we confidently knew that that was not the reason for her shift and didn't want to chance her reverting back anymore behaviorally. With her being a little more standoffish with Ben this morning, we decided that he would go take pictures while I stayed with her in the van.

Ben's visit with the orphanage was very special as he got to take videos and photos of where Lucee has spent the past 4 years of her life. We are thankful that the orphanage seems to have been a clean, safe place for her to grow and develop. We heard that since she is from an orphanage in the capital city of her province that it is usually a bigger orphanage and they have more resources and staff. This definitely seems to have been true as she is a very social, engaging, smart child already. As Ben was taking a tour, he realized that Lucee was in a “wing” of the building specifically for kids with Cerebral Palsy and Down Syndrome. She even had a room for her to do physical therapy and hydrotherapy! He got to meet the nannies that had cared for her and see pictures of her from when she was younger. What a blessing to have been able to capture these memories for her. Although she didn't go back to visit with him, these pictures and videos will hopefully one day be able to help her through the processing of adoption. When Ben was there, there was a boy (about 7 years old) who kept following him around saying, “Baba? Baba? Baba?” and pointing to the door. Baba means Dad in Chinese. Adam and Missy, we found your boy ;) Wish we could've brought him back to a family in the US. Pray for him to find his forever family, please.

Afterwards, we went to Walmart to find a suitcase and other items before our bullet train ride to Guangzhou tomorrow. Ben has been craving a regular bag of Lay's potato chips the past couple days and we found a big bag at Walmart. Apparently, Lucee likes them too. Funny thing is, we rarely ever buy them in the US, but in China they tasted great! After Walmart, we went back to the hotel for lunch and a long afternoon... We have kind of come to dread the afternoons in Changsha, because there isn't much to do, and she hasn't take a nap for us, so we just hang out in the room. But after 4 days of this, the few toys we brought are becoming old and she is bored with them. We are finding it's the simple, odd things she is interested in (but just once and then she moves on) for example, this afternoon she played a while with a deck of playing cards. She likes to take things out of packages and put them back in. We also took a walk outside (it's been very cold and dreary here the entire time we've been here). One last walk in Changsha, where we feel a bit like aliens. As we walk down the street we can see out of the corner of our eye, the people turning to stare at us as we pass each other. We also got to see a man in the underground tunnel, that people walk through to cross the busy streets, singing for money. He was an albino Asian man. He had a special walking stick laying next to him as he sat on the ground, indicating that he was blind. On the other end of the tunnel was another man laying in a bed like mat of blankets as though he was homeless. It made us think about the many children in the Chinese orphanages that age out of the system and many of them turn to the streets for survival. We learned that some of them are able to stay and work in the orphanage, but many do not.

We went back to the hotel to rest and play what has become one of Lucee's favorite games, PU Stinky! This time it was with Ben's shoes. She will smell them and then put them down and wave her hand in front of her nose and say in pretty clear English, “PU Stinky!” She has picked up on a lot of English words since we have gotten her. She only knew “hello” when we got her. Now she tries to copy the words we say. We have also started teaching her basic sign language, which she seems to pick up on quickly as well. For a girl who was given such a low IQ score on her adoption file, she is showing that that was definitely an error of scoring. She is very smart and picks up on things quickly. She loves to see how things work, as you'll see a perfect example of this tomorrow. We also watched the China's Got Talent show and a Caucasian lady from Italy was on there putting sharks to sleep. Lucee went up to the TV and pointed to the lady and said “momma.... something in Chinese.” Then she'd point to me and laugh and go back and forth doing this. To me it seemed like she was saying, “momma, she looks like you”. I'm curious what she'll think when we get back to America and most people “look like momma”. :)

Tonight we decided to take advantage of the free pillow service we had read about on a sign in the room. You could choose from seven different scented pillows to use for free or to buy. I called the service desk like it said to on the sign and asked for the free pillow service for Buckwheat and ginkgo. The lady didn't understand English so she had another lady get on the phone. This lady didn't understand me either because the next think I know, a lady is knocking at our door with 2 fresh pillowcases to put on our pillows. I tried explaining to her by gestures that we wanted a scented pillow and I'm sure she thought I was a bit crazy. I ended up telling her in Chinese, “no thank you, sorry” and she left. No pillow service for us tonight. But we did end up sleeping well and with her going to bed around 8pm and us going to bed about the same time, Ben and I are getting at least 10 hours of sleep. Wish we could bottle this up and use when we get back home and have 4 kids :)

Boy who called Ben, "Baba"... He's looking for a home! :)

Photo of Lucee painting (she's the one in the front).

Lucee's old bed.

Ben and one of Lucee's nannies, Wendy (I believe that was her name).

Her hydrotherapy room.

Her sensory motor therapy room.

This is the way kids ride in China... sitting in their parents lap or in their own seatbelt... Thankfully we didn't go that fast, but still it was a so different than the laws in America. 

Stopping for a picture on our walk around the hotel.

This smile is so contagious and heartwarming!!!!!

PU Stinky!!! 

She loved riding on Ben's shoulders.

Kisses for Baba!

Taking cards out and putting them back in... it's the simple things.

Our pillow service... fail.

Jan 20th - The "Honeymoon's" Over... ;)

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Today, we woke up and got ready for the day, and headed downstairs to eat breakfast before meeting our guide at 930am. We were headed to a silk embroidery workshop. Changsha is known for it's silk embroidery. We got to see the room where 40 or so women were working near the windows (for natural light, they don't work under the electric lights because it is harder on the eyes if it's not natural light). Ashley told us that they all drink green tea because it's supposed to be good for the eyesight. The artwork was so intricate and beautiful!

Then we went downstairs to the galleries where we got to see pieces as much as half a million US dollars! I think there were more expensive pieces but I didn't see their cost. There are 2 people at the workshop that are the only ones that know the technique to make a design on both sides of the silk. We saw 2 pieces like this in the galleries, one with a bald eagle in different positions on each side of the material and the other one was of a monkey on one side and a white crane on the other. I wish we could've taken pictures, but that was prohibited in this particular gallery. About half way through the tour, we noticed Lucee beginning to act very different from her cheerful self. She didn't want to be held and kept saying “booya!!” (which we were told is a forceful No!) it got to the point where Ben had to take her out of the building and I finished up in the gift shop area picking out gifts for our moms. When I came out off the building, I met Ben and Lucee (who was crying) ready to go. We weren't sure why she switched so quickly, was it because she couldn't touch much at this place, she was being told “no” when she tried touching the more expensive things, or that she was being held too much and just wanted to run around? We weren't sure. Ashley suggested that she might be confused why he is always with us on outings. She probably remembers him from the orphanage and perhaps feels like he might take her back? Something we didn't think about. So, we called it an early day and went back to the hotel at 11. We also found out that all of the kids in the orphanage have nap time from 12-2pm. The past 2 days she hadn't gotten or acted like she needed a nap... today might be a good day to get back close to her normal schedule.

We got into our room and ate lunch and then got her ready to take a nap. She completely melted down and didn't want to take a nap. She screamed and would push us away if we came near her. After about 10-15 minutes of this, we decided to turn on the lights, and let her just snuggle with us while watching TV in bed. She calmed down and snuggled between us for about an hour and a half. After getting up, we played and bonded some more. Then she pointed to the thermostat like she wanted to play with the buttons. I told her no and she melted down again. Full on yelling, screaming... Ben held her in cradle position and rocked her while she cried. Part of these meltdowns are because of the mourning process and although it was sad to be told no, we've told her no previously and this wasn't the response. We think this has more to do with the mourning process of losing the relationships and surroundings that she was so used to and being put into new surroundings with new people who look, smell and talk differently. We are using these moments to bond us closer together as we empathize with her. She came out of this and we went out to a play area on our hotel floor to get a change of scenery. We are all beginning to have a sense of cabin fever here with not much to do or see.

Tonight for dinner, we decided to go to the western restaurant downstairs to order a pizza. Unfortunately, we were ready to order at 430, but they didn't open up till 530. We killed time by walking around the hotel on the different floors. We are staying on the 30^th floor, and there are many more above us, so we had some area to explore. When it came time, Ben put in an order for pizza, and when he got it back, only 2 of the 4 toppings were correct. It was still eatable though so we didn't complain. With being away from the tourist city like Beijing, there really aren't many people that speak English, and if they do, it's usually just a very small amount. So, the fact that we got pizza with 2 out of the 4 toppings correct is a bonus!

Well, with this day being different than the other two, we weren't surprised that the night wasn't going to go as smoothly as the other 2. she ended up screaming when we put her in bed and would calm down a bit when we'd switch spots. I'd lay next to her, and then Ben, and I'd lay next to her and then Ben. Eventually she had calmed down all the way and fell asleep. We had learned to scoot the bed over to the wall so she couldn't fall off the bed. However, we didn't put her in a diaper (cause she didn't want to and hadn't had an accident at all since being with us, so we didn't want to fight another battle if we didn't think we needed to) and that turned out to be a mistake. About 2 in the morning, I woke up to the smell of urine. She had peed the bed :( But she was sleeping so soundly, we decided to just deal with it in the morning. What a day...

Silk Embroidery Work Area

They only work with the natural lights from the windows and drink green tea because they believe these two things help their eyes stay strong.

Beautiful artwork on the wall, unbelievably done by hand... takes months - a year to complete something of this size.

Putting on layers of clothes. Ha Ha

Shirt, Swimtop, 2 pairs of underwear and pants so far...

Ben consoling her through one of her meltdowns.

Having fun blowing up this world ball

Daddy taught her how to eat pizza with chopsticks:)

She loved the blowdryer