China Day 12: Signing Off from the Far East!

Our final full day in China is coming to a close!  We spent the morning/early afternoon shopping back at Shamian Island with our travel group.  We love that place.  It's so peaceful and a nice reprieve from the loud traffic and busyness of the city.  It was extremely humid today, but we got the obligatory picture of Lucille standing in line with the statue kids following the musician.  We had a nice snacky lunch at a Starbucks on the island.  The a/c was well worth the price of admission!  This Starbucks and all other stores on the island are housed inside abandoned buildings from the 1800s when the island was a center of global trade. 

The best part of today was getting Lucille's Chinese passport with the US visa inside on time, no problems!  This was the very final document that gets us out of the country together.  We also have the immigration documents in hand that will give Lucille her US citizenship when we go through Detroit USCIS.  The paperwork chain, ten months in the making, is now coming to a close.  Praise God!

Steve and Ella made one final trip to Trust-Mart to get items for the trip home.  Two things we won't miss when we get back to our home Walmart are the smell of fresh sea animals and the smell of durian fruit!  We don't remember durian being so prevalent in Guangzhou the last trip, but it's in every supermarket now.  If you've never been around durian in person, it's just awful.  The odor permeates through the entire produce section of the stores.  Ella shows you what she thinks of it in one of today's photos.

We had one final dinner with our new travel friends from North Carolina, and we just had to go back to Cow and Bridge one more time.  We tried some new dishes and the food was amazing as usual.  We capped the night off with ice cream treats from our good ol' 7-11.  We really need to wean ourselves back off dessert every night when we get home.  :-)  We said our goodbyes to the other family and came back to the room to finish up our packing.  The girls and mom & dad are ready for one last sleep in China!  We need to meet in the hotel lobby at 6:00am to catch our flight, so we're just preparing ourselves to be tired in the morning.

This will be our final blog post until we're back on American soil.  If you're so inclined, we appreciate specific prayers for the following:

• Our flight from Guangzhou to Beijing is operated by a Delta partner airline, they changed the aircraft type, and our seat assignments got messed up.  The partner's website is not working and the phone support is not available.  Please pray that we get out of this city on time!
• Our flight from Beijing to Detroit is about 14 hours long.  Pray that Lucille (and the rest of us) have a good flight and can get some sleep.
• Our layover in Detroit is just over two hours.  We need to get through USCIS to finalize Lucille's immigration and this is not an excessive amount of time.  Pray for quick movement through the immigration lines and that we catch our flight to Cedar Rapids.
• We're going to have major jetlag and our family of six is going to go through a time of big adjustment to the new normal.  We appreciate your continued prayers over the weeks to come.

Your prayers and support have been so wonderful.  We couldn't have gone through this without the amazing support group and people we have surrounding us!  Lucille is an incredible girl and we can't wait to introduce her to everyone in person!  You will be blessed to know this little, funny ball of energy.

Enjoy the photos, and look for our next blog update from home!!!

China Day 11: US Consulate Appointment

We had to get up early today, but it was to make it to the US Consulate for our final appointment in China! We were scheduled for the first time slot of the day so we had to leave the hotel at 7:40am.  The Consulate is in a different building now than when we came in 2012, and they are much more restrictive on what you can bring in (no cameras or phones, thus we have zero pictures of this part of our process).  We dressed Lucille in a little red, white, & blue dress to commemorate the occasion.

First we waited in line to get a number.  Then we waited for our number to be called and turned in Lucille's medical records, Chinese passport, adoption decree, and other papers.  Next one parent from each family had to take an oath.  Finally, we waited for our family name to be called to answer questions and confirm details about the adoption.  That's it!  Now we pray that there are no hiccups in the system that processes Lucille's visa.  We'll also be getting the coveted sealed-brown-envelope that we will hand to US Customs & Immigration Services once we land in Detroit.  At that moment, Lucille will become a citizen of the United States!

It was quite hot this morning (as usual) so we cooled off in the hotel pool after getting back from the Consulate.  Light lunch in the hotel room, a nap for Lucille, some silly time together, and then a quick stroll to the store for groceries took up the rest of our afternoon.  We met our travel group in the lobby at 5:30pm for a boat dinner cruise on the Pearl River.  Steve and another traveling dad got Pizza Hut takeout because we heard... stories... about the kinds of food they serve on the boat buffet.  It was a very good call, because other than fried rice and some noodles, everything else was authentic Chinese (NOT American-Chinese) food.  Uncut prawns, chicken feet, sweet & sour meat of some chewy sort, etc, were up for grabs.  Steve tried a bite of chicken foot because hey, free chicken foot!  It tasted like chicken skin with zero meat between it and the bone.  We think KFC in the US is missing a niche market here so maybe we'll write the corporate office when we get home.  Food did, however, continue to be a good bonding tool between Steve and Lucille (not chicken feet, but good things like fried rice).  She's warmed up to Steve much more today and he was able to hold her on several bus rides. 

After dusk the view from the boat was beautiful.  The Canton Tower and many other tall, lit up buildings made for spectacular scenery.  A performer put on a show for everyone that included juggling and antics with a soccer ball (including spinning it on Ella's finger).  The time on our boat ended with an impromptu balloon animal fight between many of the kids.  :-)  It was a relaxing evening and a good time just talking with some of our new friends.  It's a bummer that these other families live so far away from us in the US, but just like in 2012 we're making connections that are sure to last! 

Tomorrow is our last full day in China!!!  The only official action is to get Lucille's passport & visa when it's delivered to the hotel.  Please pray with us that there are no delays and that we can leave the country as scheduled Thursday morning!  We're going to miss China a lot, but not nearly as much as we're missing our other kiddos right now!

[Pictures we wish we could have taken from the US Consulate go here]

China Day 10: Zoo, Shopping, and More Downtime

Today was another day with no official appointments.  We spent the morning at the Guangzhou Zoo, where we hoped to see the giant pandas (they have two).  They were there, but they were inside their air conditioned home behind smoky glass.  We did get to see giraffes, rhinos, leopards, red pandas, and several lions.  They had two male lions a few cages apart, and they got into a roaring match while we were nearby.  Definitely the highlight of the zoo.  We take that back... the highlight was sitting in the concession area eating ice cream after sweating like crazy all morning.  :-)

After lunch and a nap we decided to take a taxi to Shamian Island to do some shopping.  Our travel group is going there Wednesday, but we wanted to get a head start on gifts.  A famous restaurant on the island is Lucy's, which we skipped in 2012.  It's American cuisine and actually pretty good!  Having crinkle-cut french fries and actual ketchup was really nice.  We taxied back to the hotel, and  Heather gave Lucille a bath while Ella and Steve went for a swim.

Lucille was really open again throughout the day and she can be so silly!  We were calling her our tough nut to crack.  Ella told us tonight that she thinks "we cracked her".  She likes to repeat things we say and put "hi-yah!" at the end.  All evening long we got "no hi-yah!", "uh oh hi-yah", "hello hiyah", etc.  She seems to have a great sense of humor so she'll fit right in at home.  Just before bed she fell and bumped her lip, but she went right to Heather for comfort.  This is a great sign of attachment!  She's also been interacting with Steve a lot more.  Please continue to pray for her little heart.  We know she has a long ways to go, but we're so grateful to God for the breakthroughs we continue to see each day.

We're only three more sleeps until we begin the long journey home!!! 

China Day 9: Another Free Day

No official appointments today, but our guide arranged for some sightseeing and shopping.  Lucille woke up no less than a dozen times last night and Heather woke up with a bit of a stomach bug so she stayed at the hotel with Lucille (she was feeling much better by mid-afternoon).  Steve and Ella made the outing together.  Ella's new 4 year old friend was happy to see her again and they held hands pretty much everywhere we went. 

The first stop was the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, a building complex that now serves as a folk art museum and a place to buy traditional souvenirs.  We then visited the Liwan Market, also known as the pearl & jade market.  This is a seven story wholesale shopping complex that houses more than 2,000 stores!  They sell jewelry, pearls, and pretty much any type of precious stone you could imagine.

We had a wonderful visit this afternoon from a local friend, Jana, who lives about two hours from Guangzhou.  We had a great time visiting in our hotel room, followed by a delicious meal back at Cow and Bridge.  It rained pretty much all day today, but the rain let up while we were eating dinner.  This made for beautiful weather and another perfect night to walk back to our hotel.  Ella and Steve made a quick run to the 7-11 to get some dessert, followed by an extremely silly time in our room with Lucille.  Speaking of, there's a nice picture of her "cheese" face, as well as her little quirk when you ask her to pose (she lifts one leg).  While there's not a whole lot to report for today, it was great to have a pretty low-key day to relax!

We wanted to take a minute to share some praises with you and also say how thankful we are for all of you. God has really provided for us during all of this trip. There have been many times when we're tempted to get frustrated because things are difficult or simply aren't going our way. God has reminded us to focus on what is important and let the little things go. He's brought others into our lives here right when we've needed it. He's opening Lucille's heart to us more and more each day. He's provided so much encouragement through you all, your messages, and your prayers. Not a single message from you has gone unnoticed and every time one of you says you're praying for us it gives us just a little more strength. Knowing that others are praying for us is making an immense difference. Thank you so much, from the bottom of our hearts!

Ella and her little friend, Makenna.

 



The Pearl and Jade Market

Chen Clan Ancestral Hall

Ella with our guide, Aron.

 

Silly pose

 

"Cheese!"

 

 

Dinner with Jana

 

Lots of silly laughs and smiles tonight.