Too Tired To Title (China Day 6)

Today was less hectic than the past two days.  Following breakfast we hailed a taxi to Shamian Island for the morning.  This is where the US Consulate and medical center used to be, but they've since moved inland.  The famous White Swan hotel (where pretty much every adopting family used to stay) is still closed for renovations.  The island has a very different feel from the rest of Guangzhou.  It's much quieter and very peaceful.  There are many local stores for shopping, and we had a nice time there with one of the other adopting families.  We even had lunch at the local Subway.  Protip: don't order any sort of hot chicken subs here; Steve took one bite and threw it away.  We'll likely go back to the island another day to do some more shopping and take pictures.

In the early afternoon we hopped on yet another bus for yet another official appointment.  This time we had to go to a Chinese public security something-or-other building (essentially a big police station).  Helen had her picture taken and we submitted her application for her Chinese passport.  There weren't any other official events today, which was a welcome change.  


The whole day was interspersed with various "firsts" for Helen (in our presence, anyway).  We witnessed her first time waving hello, which was adorable.  She willingly gave Steve kisses upon request, which melted our hearts.  Two little puppies ran up to her on the island today, which we're guessing was her first time seeing any such animals (she seemed to like them).  At dinner tonight she displayed her first true toddler-like behavior for us: being extremely squirmy, putting her feet on the table, grabbing for everything, and eventually plopping herself down on the floor in what we think was her first real fit in our presence.  We are also still seeing little bouts of sadness in her, which don't appear to be brought upon by anything we do.  She also started playing a cute little game today where she lays her head on Heather's chest, looks up and waits until Heather says "hi", and then plops her head back down quickly.  Lots more smiles came about, mostly during dinner.  Everything she does is so darned cute, even when she seems to be acting a little naughty.


We miss Ella and Myles like crazy and think about them all the time.  It sounds like they're doing great back home, which comforts us but doesn't make it any easier to be away from them.  With all of the attention and fun times they're having, maybe we should be worried that they won't want to come back to us!  :-)  Nine more sleeps until we fly home to them with their new sister.


We're pretty dead tired today.  All of the emotions and busyness seem to be catching up with us this evening. We'll bring today's post to a close with a few new pictures of our little blessing from throughout the day:

Signed, Sealed, Delivered, She's Ours! (China Day 5)

Up through the time we posted yesterday, Helen had pretty much not left Heather's arms.  After we finished that post, Steve opened his hands and motioned for Helen to come.  She went to him immediately, and we wanted to start out today's update with a picture from this special moment:

We had a Skype date set up for 8pm our time last night with the kiddos back home, and we tried our hardest to keep Helen awake.  She zonked out shortly before 8:00 and there was no waking her. Ella & Myles did get to see her on camera though, and we could tell that they were excited.  We put Helen in her crib, and that girl didn't make a peep for close to 12 hours!  We had to actually wake her up so we could get ready to grab breakfast!  She went through a lot yesterday, and it obviously tuckered the little thing out.  Mom & Dad were very grateful for the full night's rest!  Here's Helen ready to start out the day, and us at our first breakfast together:

We returned to the Civil Affairs office this morning to finalize the "registration" and "notarization" parts of the adoption.  This involved a lot of waiting, followed by two different interviews (with more waiting in between the two).  We had answer interesting questions like "are you satisfied with this child?" (DUH!) and "will you promise to never abandon her?"  (YES!)  We guess we passed both interviews, because we didn't get hauled off to some Chinese interrogation room after either one.  This was the final paperwork with Chinese officials to approve the adoption!  Oh, and the first photo below is our official "family picture" that goes into China's files.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped by a supermarket to grab some groceries.  For those of you that complain about Walmart back home, you owe it to yourself to visit TrustMart here in Guangzhou; especially the fresh meat section!  Imagine rows and rows of dead animal parts from chicken feet to cow innards, all at room temperature and waiting for you to bring home.  Yummy (we didn't try it).  Next to this area were the fresh fish tanks.  Local shoppers choose a fish, the worker pulls it out, CHOP-CHOP-CHOP, and its on the scale for pricing (we didn't try this either).  Steve was able to snap a few pictures inside the grocery store, but a worker ran up and mumbled something that obviously meant "you can't do that in here!"  Sorry that we didn't get any innard/guts pics for your viewing pleasure.

We made it back to the hotel around noon and put one exhausted little girl down for a nap. She was quite the trooper this morning, being hauled around to various appointments and all.  Steve was able to provoke a couple little smiles by pretending to munch on her fingers.  What a smile!  Everything this little one does is precious, but her smile will melt your heart.  We even witnessed a bit of a laugh as we walked down the hotel hallway.  Throughout the day she's become a little more generous with smiles, and she's completely free in giving us hugs and cuddles.  After naptime we gave Helen her first bath.  She really didn't like it very much.  Note how she even scowls at the comb.

It was nice to have a relaxing afternoon in our hotel room.  We had two other adopting families over to our room for Papa John's tonight.  Yes, there's a Papa John's here!  It tasted pretty close to what we have at home, but each large pizza cost about $20 US.  You gotta love the website's description:

"The sausage pizza:  rich intestines of bacon and a lot of mellow cheese side by side to send an absolutely delicious temptation, rain, fragrant, and bring you endless aftertaste."

Beyond the rich intestines of bacon, tonight was a great time of fellowship with these other families!  It's so nice to be going through this process with others.

For those wondering what's left before we can come home:

• Apply to for Helen's passport and have her Visa photo taken (Wednesday)
• Helen's Visa medical check (Friday)
• Final paperwork checking (Saturday)
• Exit meeting/briefing about our departure (next Tuesday)
• Visa appointment & oath-taking ceremony at the US Consulate (next Wednesday)
• Pick up Helen's Visa; transit back to Hong Kong (next Thursday)
• Get the heck back to Iowa as a family of five! (next Friday)

Oh yeah, one more thing:  remember those smiles we talked about?  While writing this blog post we found a ticklish spot on her ribs.  We'll leave you with one more picture for today.  You're gonna love this one:

Gotcha Day!!! (China Day 4)

Today started out just like any other day.  Our body clocks woke us up way too early, again.  After breakfast we had an orientation session with our local agency staff in preparation for the Gotcha meeting this afternoon.  Following a lunch of McDonald's (yes, three times in two days... there weren't any other options without walking some distance from our hotel), we wasted a couple of hours and then met with the other two couples from our agency in the hotel lobby:

At 2:00pm we boarded a bus for the 15-minute drive to the Civil Affairs Office.  We arrived and took the elevator to the 8th floor.  It was a big room with lots of families waiting to meet their children.  In the back corner was a doorway covered by a very colorful curtain.  This is where the children are held and brought out one at a time to meet their new forever families:

We didn't have to wait long.  We saw a beautiful little girl come through the curtain in her caregiver's arms, and we heard someone say "Jiang Song Xiang".  This was it, our little girl was in the same room as her mommy and daddy!!!  You're probably not reading this anyway, as we're sure you've scrolled down looking for pictures.  Fine, here you go!  :-)  Introducing, Helen Joy Songxiang Adolphs:

We had high hopes but low expectations for the hand-off.  We didn't know what to expect, but Helen didn't really say much.  She just went into Heather's arms and didn't make a peep!  Helen had to travel four hours by bus to get here today, and you can see that she got pretty tuckered out.  You'll also see from the last picture (from our bus ride back to the hotel) that she has a pretty good scowl just like another certain little girl in the Adolphs family.

We were able to talk with one of Helen's primary caregivers from the orphanage using a translator.  We learned about Helen's schedule, what she eats, how she goes to sleep, and how to comfort/distract her when needed.  We were warned to keep an eye on her because she's "very quick; one moment she's there, you turn your back and she's gone."  We asked the caregiver how she'd describe Helen, and overall it sounds like she's feisty... and maybe a little bit naughty.  We were instructed that when she does something she shouldn't be doing, you just give her a stern look and she'll get the message... but she won't like it!

We're back in the hotel room now, just enjoying our first afternoon/evening together as a family.  We really wish Ella and Myles were here to meet her.  They're going to love this little girl!  Thanks for all of your prayers that brought us to this wonderful day.  Please continue to pray for lots of bonding over the next 11 days and for energy to make it through all the remaining paperwork and waiting.  Helen will be back home with her family, right where she belongs, before we know it!

Hello, Guangzhou (China Day 3)

We started out today by walking to McDonald's for breakfast near our Hong Kong hotel.  If you guessed that Chinese Mickey-D's is nothing like the US, you were right.  From the GCB sandwich (Grilled Chicken Burger thing, I presume?) to Honey Pear Tea and a red bean-mint McFlurry, the menu is quite different in many ways.  However, we were able to get ourselves some Egg McMuffin meals.  It seems that fast food tastes, universally... well, like fast food...  wherever you are.  Side note, Starbucks put their own spin on things by offering a red bean & green tea Frappucino.  Yummy (we didn't try it).

After packing up our things, we checked out of the hotel and walked down to the train station.  Realizing it would be several hours before we'd again be able to eat, we had McDonald's for the second time in one day.  We got another standby, Chicken McNuggets.  They, too, tasted identical to those in the US.  But in the US, you don't get to choose from chili garlic or wasabi sauces.

So yeah, we ate more than double our share of MSG for one day, but oh well.  After lunch we checked our large bags and went through Customs enroute to the train.  The train ride was surprisingly pleasant, albeit a little warm.  Two hours later, we arrived at Guangzhou.

Once we made it through Guangzhou Customs, our new friend Jordon was waiting for us.  Heather found out about Jordon based on recommendations online.  He used to have a storefront on Shamian Island, where the US Consulate used to be located.  When the Consulate moved inland a few years ago, many businesses on the island had to close shop because of lack of customers.  This was true of Jordon's store.  Based on a large list of exceptional networking and recommendations of past clients, Jordon started getting jobs as a tour guide.  We booked him in advance and he is one great guy.  He took us to our hotel via the metro/subway, which only cost 4 Yuan per person ($0.63 USD). Other private transit here can cost upward of 400 Yuan (~$65 US).  We can assure you that we were the only foreigners down there.  We thus experienced our first official Chinese-shoving-into-a-crowded-place event.

Here's a picture of us with Jordon and his son, Jimmy:

For those reading this blog that know Jordon's story, good news:  he's opened up a store again off the island!  We were actually able to get a lot of our gift shopping out of the way already today.  Following our time at his store, he gave us a very authentic tour of China.  It was very educational.  We also walked through various markets and ended up eating at an amazing Chinese restaurant.  We had rice noodles, fried rice, and *real* sweet & sour pork (literal translation:  fruit juice pork steak).  It was all amazing!  Take a look:

After dinner we made our way back to the hotel, exhausted.  We aren't quite adjusted to the time difference yet, but it's getting better.  If we can stop waking up repeatedly at night and then being up for good around 5:30am, we'll be in much better shape.

We're now winding down and getting ready for bed.  Tomorrow is a big day.  A HUGE day.  It's Gotcha Day!  We have an orientation with our agency's local staff at 10:30am tomorrow, and at 2:00pm we'll be on our way to get little Helen.  Words cannot even begin to express what we're both feeling right now.  Some combination of anxious-nervous-excited-scared to death-excited-stressed-worried-excited might come close...  At any rate, this is our last blog post as a family of four.  After tomorrow, we'll be blessed with one more wonderful little one in our midst!  We can't wait!  Just a little reminder of the latest picture we've seen of our little princess.  By this time tomorrow, you all will be seeing our 16-month-old angel in her mama & baba's arms!!!

Greetings from Hong Kong! (China Days 1-2)

We made it!  A quick hop to Detroit, followed by 15-plus hours on a 777 to Hong Kong, and here we are.  There were no real travel issues to report, other than a one-hour delay to our flight out of Detroit.  Everything else was smooth sailing!  The nicest part of our travel was meeting up in DTW airport with another family adopting from Guangdong Province. Heather met this mother from Nashville on a Facebook adoption group.  They suffered through the long flight overseas with us.

We got to our hotel on Friday, July 13, around 9:30pm local time and crashed into bed.   This morning (Saturday) we met up with the other adopting family and took a tour of Hong Kong with a guide.  The guide was great and taught us a lot of the history of this "Special Authorized Region" of China.  We took the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island, rode up the world's largest escalator (800m long), visited a Taoist temple, went through some street markets, and ate an authentic lunch of Chinese noodles.  All in all, today we rode on a ferry, a streetcar (aka "ding ding" here), a bus, a tram, and a train/subway.  That's in addition to walking several miles.  It was a fun and educational day, despite the high humidity.  See below for a few of our pictures from around town.

Things we've learned today:

• Tons of details of Hong Kong's history, from British Colonization through its return to China in 1997 and that it is in a 50-year period of "one country, two systems" rule (it's unknown what will happen to the current Hong Kong governance in 2047).
• Seven million people live in Hong Kong, but only about 7% own their own cars.
• You can make $10M per year in Hong Kong being an English tutor.  They're treated like celebrities.
• Hong Kong has the equivalent of our Hollywood walk of fame.  We saw Jackie Chan's handprints in the sidewalk.  In fact, the entire Kwoloon district is kind of the equivalent of our Hollywood.
• Hong Kong has its own SoHo district.
• The harbor area of Hong Kong is extremely polluted due to a lack of sewage treatment plants.  Lots of people fish for pleasure, but they release them for obvious reasons.

This day was a great chance for us to adjust to the time difference and prepare ourselves for being in Guangzhou. We'll hop on the train tomorrow at 12:14pm.  We're less than two days from Gotcha Day!!!  

...And We're Off!

This is it, folks:  the culmination of something that started even before we were married and the topic of wanting to "adopt someday" came up.  Eighteen months ago we paid off our last non-mortgage debt.  Fifteen months ago we took a leap of faith and submitted our adoption application.  Six months ago we were matched with a beautiful little girl in China.  Three days from now we're going to be holding her in our arms and will never let go!

Thank you to everyone that's lifted us up in prayer during this journey.  Please continue to pray, especially over the next two weeks as Helen adjusts to being with her new forever family.  Pray for Ella and Myles as they stay home with our good friends.  Pray for our emotions, as we already miss our older two munchkins like crazy. 

We plan to blog often while we're overseas, and you'd better believe there will be pictures! 

Fasten your seatbelts and put your seats in their upright and locked position; the cabin door is now closing in preparation for departure...

Our China Schedule

Lots of people have been asking how long we'll be in China, what we will do while we're there, when do we get our daughter, why do we have to stay so long, etc.  So, here is our schedule for anyone that is curious!

July 12 Thursday:  Depart Cedar Rapids 10:20am

July 13 Friday:  Arrive in Hong Kong at 7:30pm (time is 13 hours ahead of Iowa)

July 14 Saturday: Tour Hong Kong

July 15 Sunday: Take a train to Guangzhou, the capital city of our daughter's province 

July 16  Monday: GOTCHA DAY!!  Meet our daughter for the first time!  Helen will be with us 24/7 from this point forward!

July 17 Tuesday: Adoption processing: registration and document notarization at the Chinese Civil Affairs Office. The adoption is finalized as of this day!

July 18 Wednesday: Apply for Helen's Chinese passport

July 19 Thursday: Free day. Touring and shopping in Guangzhou 

July 20 Friday: Helen's medical check

July 21 Saturday: Visa paperwork check

Jul 22 Sunday: Free day (hopefully visit Helen's orphanage in Yangjiang City)

Jul 23 Monday: Free day

July 24 Tuesday: Receive Helen's passport

July 25 Wednesday: Visa appointment and Oath taking ceremony at the US Consulate

July 26 Thursday: Visa pick up & travel back to Hong Kong

July 27 Friday: Depart Hong Kong 10:25am and arrive home on Delta flight 3438 at 4:27 pm!!!!