Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Quick Update
We are at the Hong Kong airport, waiting to board the long flight home! The last two days have been spent packing, traveling, and in bed...I've caught a pretty bad cold. Hoping they won't kick me off the plane! I didn't have a fever when they checked me at the border coming into Hong Kong, and don't think I've had one since the first night I started feeling bad. Quinn seems to be fine...he has had a cough, but it seems to be getting better. I'm just glad it's me and not him...nothing worse than traveling with a sick child. He's so precious...he waves to everyone, smiles a lot. He does have a good set of lungs, and will let everyone know if he is not happy!! He is working on saying Quinn, but it sounds more like "Quah". Well, here we go! Can't wait to introduce you all to Quinn!
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Good Morning from Guangzhou!
Life is good here in China! We completed our time in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province on Friday, and took our first 2.5 hour flight with Quinn south to Guangzhou. Where Shanxi was COLD and grey, Guangzhou is warm and blooming! The last couple of days in Taiyuan were not very eventful…we had some time to rest while we waited for Quinn’s passport and the notary books (official Chinese birth certificate/ abandonment certificate). We went to a local park, where there were many people dancing (different types of dancing in different parts of the park)….one group was waltzing, one was doing Chinese folk dance, another was practicing Tai Chi. Here, when people retire (men at 60, women at 50), they spend their mornings doing some sort of dance for physical fitness, then they return home and cook lunch for their extended family/grandchildren, then they play games such as chess or cards in the afternoons. Sounds like the good life to me. :)
Our guide recommended a nearby restaurant for dinner on Thursday, famed for their steamed buns. As people pretty much anyplace in Taiyuan are unable to speak any English (except our hotel), we asked Linda to write down what we should order. That was fun….they looked at the paper, and about 4 waitresses all hovered around our table, trying to guess what type of steamed bun we wanted….since all she apparently wrote was “steamed bun”, and it sounded like they had many types. They kept pointing to the menu (all in Mandarin, and no pictures to help us out), and we had to just shrug and smile!!! While we waited for the food, Monte downloaded an app on his phone that would take a snapshot of the mandarin, and translate it to English (very cool). Between that and “google translate”, we were able to communicate our thanks for the meal, and ask for a to go bag, as they had brought us 2 huge plates of buns…..we’re still eating them, even now. They are excellent!
During our time in Taiyuan, our guide expressed some interest in our culture. We were so excited to be able to share some basic points, and gave her some music….so, my dear brother, Dave, some of your music from DCF is now in China, I hope you don’t mind!!! [editor's note from Dave: of course not! Sweet!]
On Friday, praise God, we were so excited to see our guide walk into the hotel lobby holding up Quinn’s passport! So, we said “good-bye” to Shanxi province and headed south to beautiful Guangzhou.
While our hotel in Taiyuan was nice, (though the room was very small for a family with 4 suitcases of supplies), the Marriot that our agency has us at in Guangzhou is spectacular. We have reunited with the 5 other families that traveled to China together from our agency, and it is sweet to see the children all together. We are a “boy” group….5 boys and 1 girl.
So the first order of business was to get a medical examination from the “American-approved” facility. It has moved and is brand new - only open for the last month. We were hoping for a less crowded space than what we experienced with Zane….but while it is larger and beautiful, there were still hundreds of people waiting. There were many, many families with adopted children, and also some Chinese nationals. Anyone immigrating to the US has to go to this clinic. I went to the “paperwork party” in the afternoon, to square away all the final documents needed for Quinn’s immigration to the US. Then, Monte went for a run in the gym, while I took Quinn to the playground at the hotel for some mommy-bonding time. There, we ran into the other family who adopted from our orphanage in Datong. They were not so fortunate with their guide and agency to figure out how to get the passport early. So, they still don’t have their little girl’s passport, and may be delayed in leaving China. Please pray for them.
Each day, Quinn shows more affection with me….but he’s still a daddy’s boy, though. ;) When we are out, he is full of smiles for those around us, and doesn’t display much “shyness” with strangers. As soon as we put on his coat, he starts saying “bye-bye”, “bye-bye”, and is ready to walk out the door, ASAP. He is talking in Chinese a lot, and people love talking with him….we so wish we could understand him! He hasn’t acted very frustrated with us for not understanding, though. He’s already picking up a little bit of English, and occasionally surprises us by doing something we have only spoken!
We will sightsee today, go to the US consulate tomorrow, drive to Hong Kong on Tuesday, and fly home on Wednesday. Wow! How quickly our time in China is going by.
Blessings to you all!
Our guide recommended a nearby restaurant for dinner on Thursday, famed for their steamed buns. As people pretty much anyplace in Taiyuan are unable to speak any English (except our hotel), we asked Linda to write down what we should order. That was fun….they looked at the paper, and about 4 waitresses all hovered around our table, trying to guess what type of steamed bun we wanted….since all she apparently wrote was “steamed bun”, and it sounded like they had many types. They kept pointing to the menu (all in Mandarin, and no pictures to help us out), and we had to just shrug and smile!!! While we waited for the food, Monte downloaded an app on his phone that would take a snapshot of the mandarin, and translate it to English (very cool). Between that and “google translate”, we were able to communicate our thanks for the meal, and ask for a to go bag, as they had brought us 2 huge plates of buns…..we’re still eating them, even now. They are excellent!
During our time in Taiyuan, our guide expressed some interest in our culture. We were so excited to be able to share some basic points, and gave her some music….so, my dear brother, Dave, some of your music from DCF is now in China, I hope you don’t mind!!! [editor's note from Dave: of course not! Sweet!]
On Friday, praise God, we were so excited to see our guide walk into the hotel lobby holding up Quinn’s passport! So, we said “good-bye” to Shanxi province and headed south to beautiful Guangzhou.
While our hotel in Taiyuan was nice, (though the room was very small for a family with 4 suitcases of supplies), the Marriot that our agency has us at in Guangzhou is spectacular. We have reunited with the 5 other families that traveled to China together from our agency, and it is sweet to see the children all together. We are a “boy” group….5 boys and 1 girl.
So the first order of business was to get a medical examination from the “American-approved” facility. It has moved and is brand new - only open for the last month. We were hoping for a less crowded space than what we experienced with Zane….but while it is larger and beautiful, there were still hundreds of people waiting. There were many, many families with adopted children, and also some Chinese nationals. Anyone immigrating to the US has to go to this clinic. I went to the “paperwork party” in the afternoon, to square away all the final documents needed for Quinn’s immigration to the US. Then, Monte went for a run in the gym, while I took Quinn to the playground at the hotel for some mommy-bonding time. There, we ran into the other family who adopted from our orphanage in Datong. They were not so fortunate with their guide and agency to figure out how to get the passport early. So, they still don’t have their little girl’s passport, and may be delayed in leaving China. Please pray for them.
Each day, Quinn shows more affection with me….but he’s still a daddy’s boy, though. ;) When we are out, he is full of smiles for those around us, and doesn’t display much “shyness” with strangers. As soon as we put on his coat, he starts saying “bye-bye”, “bye-bye”, and is ready to walk out the door, ASAP. He is talking in Chinese a lot, and people love talking with him….we so wish we could understand him! He hasn’t acted very frustrated with us for not understanding, though. He’s already picking up a little bit of English, and occasionally surprises us by doing something we have only spoken!
We will sightsee today, go to the US consulate tomorrow, drive to Hong Kong on Tuesday, and fly home on Wednesday. Wow! How quickly our time in China is going by.
Blessings to you all!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Datong – Quinn’s hometown
Ni Hao, dear friends and family!
Well, we have had another eventful 2 days. Yesterday was quite an experience! Our fabulous guide, Linda, was able to arrange an early morning appointment at the Civil Affairs office to finalize the adoption. The Civil Affairs office is kind of like the Department of Social Services in the US. They interviewed us and we officially promised never to abandon or abuse Quinn. Then we signed all the paperwork and paid the orphanage donation. The officials there were really kind….one of them even gave us a fan on which her husband had written a poem in Chinese calligraphy. After that, we immediately left for a 4-hour drive north to Datong, Quinn’s home city. We had to go there to request a passport from the local Police Station for Quinn. (This process is unique to Quinn’s city….most other adoptions do not require travel back to the local government.)
Because Linda was able to arrange the early civil affairs appointment, during our Datong visit we had enough time to visit Quinn’s orphanage! We spent about an hour touring the facility and were able to meet his teachers. You could see their genuine affection for “Hai-hai”, and he loved them, too! Almost all children are “fostered” in Quinn’s orphanage, but it is very different than fostering in the USA. They actually have a large apartment building for foster families on the site of the gated “Social Welfare Institute” which cares for the handicapped and the elderly in addition to the children. Quinn’s foster family is also caring for 4 other children. He did have both a mother and father in the home. Each morning the children go to the orphanage building, which is really more like a nice preschool setting. In addition to the traditional preschool-like rooms, there are rooms for different therapies….physical therapy, speech therapy, water therapy, and music therapy. Our guide said that this orphanage was the best one in the province. The children go home at lunch time, nap, and then return to the orphanage for the afternoon. We were visiting during the nap time, so there were no children around while we were there. I would have loved to see the children, but am so thankful that we were able to go at all.
When we arrived at the Datong police station, the meeting took about 5 minutes. It seemed to be going fine until Linda very formally introduced the policeman handling the meeting and out of habit, I shook his hand. I knew immediately that it was not appropriate. He kind of smiled and did not shake Monte’s hand. Linda said he was very serious and she’d never seen him smile before, ha! Oh well! Then as we were leaving, Linda began speaking with another lady very graciously and animatedly. After we left she explained that this was the director of the police department, and there had been some significant issues with a family who adopted from that city the week before, and she was trying to prevent a similar situation. Apparently, the conversation did not have the desired effect, so, Linda’s manager and our adoption agency began calling their contacts in the government to try to figure out what to do. Basically, we have paid some “fees” to rush the passport….otherwise, we would not have been able to leave China as scheduled.
On the drive back to Taiyuan (the capital of Shanxi province), the stress of the day and sleep deprivation began catching up with us. Monte thought he packed his Ambien, but we can’t find it, and we both have had a really hard time adjusting to the 12-hour time difference on this trip. I keep waking up at 2 am, unable to go back to sleep. Last night was the first night I slept more than 3 hours, so today I’m finally feeling better. I bought some "traditional chinese medicine" for sleep from a pharmacy today out of curiosity...it will be interesting to research it a bit when I get home, to see what is in it (it actually lists the ingredients in English, but I don't recognize most of them!) Our internet connection has been pretty patchy here, so updating the blog and skype has been more difficult…it’s working now, but it’s very early in the morning in the USA, so I guess we won’t be making a call!!
Today, we finally have some time to relax and get to know our son! Quinn has a more calm disposition than Zane, but it could easily change as the shock of everything lessens. He’s also still clearly preferring Monte, but he’s starting to warm up to me.J He has a sweet grin and loves to be held. He slept part of the night in his little bed, but woke up around 3 and would not get back in his bed, so he ended up sleeping the rest of the night with Monte. (Hotels here usually have 2 twin beds in the rooms.) He’ll point to us when others ask who his “mama” and “baba” are. He knows his body parts (in Chinese), and he talks a lot, and sometimes sings. He recognizes “twinkle, twinkle, little star”! He refuses to use “squatty potties”….which we couldn’t understand until we got to the orphanage. They have little western toilets for the children!! He cannot use a spoon or fork, yet, so there won’t be any “chopsticks” videos coming.J He’s six months younger than Zane was, and the developmental differences are pretty pronounced. He’s not fully potty-trained, so I’m glad I brought a full supply of diapers. We are happy about one thing, though - he can use bottles and sippy cups with the valve still in!!! So hopefully less spills! He’s not able to drink from an open cup, but did use a straw to down some “hot milk.” From a medical standpoint, before we came, his paperwork was not clear whether he had a left eye. So, he does have a left eye, but it is very small. It moves along with his right eye, though, so I would guess that is good. His vision in the right eye seems to be normal. We have his first appointment at Wake Forest in April.
He’s definitely still in 18 months clothes: the 2T pants and sweater he’s wearing today are tooo big! So, we’ll need to get more clothes when we get home….all of Zane’s clothes started at 2T, and I didn’t want to buy much until I knew what size Quinn was wearing.
We’d really appreciate your prayers. Yesterday afternoon was pretty discouraging, but we know that this is a very different culture. While the politics in the USA can be frustrating, we are very blessed to be American. We are confident that God is working in all of this, and it may be beyond building an earthly family….we hope that our spiritual family will grow through this adoption as well
Well, we have had another eventful 2 days. Yesterday was quite an experience! Our fabulous guide, Linda, was able to arrange an early morning appointment at the Civil Affairs office to finalize the adoption. The Civil Affairs office is kind of like the Department of Social Services in the US. They interviewed us and we officially promised never to abandon or abuse Quinn. Then we signed all the paperwork and paid the orphanage donation. The officials there were really kind….one of them even gave us a fan on which her husband had written a poem in Chinese calligraphy. After that, we immediately left for a 4-hour drive north to Datong, Quinn’s home city. We had to go there to request a passport from the local Police Station for Quinn. (This process is unique to Quinn’s city….most other adoptions do not require travel back to the local government.)
Because Linda was able to arrange the early civil affairs appointment, during our Datong visit we had enough time to visit Quinn’s orphanage! We spent about an hour touring the facility and were able to meet his teachers. You could see their genuine affection for “Hai-hai”, and he loved them, too! Almost all children are “fostered” in Quinn’s orphanage, but it is very different than fostering in the USA. They actually have a large apartment building for foster families on the site of the gated “Social Welfare Institute” which cares for the handicapped and the elderly in addition to the children. Quinn’s foster family is also caring for 4 other children. He did have both a mother and father in the home. Each morning the children go to the orphanage building, which is really more like a nice preschool setting. In addition to the traditional preschool-like rooms, there are rooms for different therapies….physical therapy, speech therapy, water therapy, and music therapy. Our guide said that this orphanage was the best one in the province. The children go home at lunch time, nap, and then return to the orphanage for the afternoon. We were visiting during the nap time, so there were no children around while we were there. I would have loved to see the children, but am so thankful that we were able to go at all.
When we arrived at the Datong police station, the meeting took about 5 minutes. It seemed to be going fine until Linda very formally introduced the policeman handling the meeting and out of habit, I shook his hand. I knew immediately that it was not appropriate. He kind of smiled and did not shake Monte’s hand. Linda said he was very serious and she’d never seen him smile before, ha! Oh well! Then as we were leaving, Linda began speaking with another lady very graciously and animatedly. After we left she explained that this was the director of the police department, and there had been some significant issues with a family who adopted from that city the week before, and she was trying to prevent a similar situation. Apparently, the conversation did not have the desired effect, so, Linda’s manager and our adoption agency began calling their contacts in the government to try to figure out what to do. Basically, we have paid some “fees” to rush the passport….otherwise, we would not have been able to leave China as scheduled.
On the drive back to Taiyuan (the capital of Shanxi province), the stress of the day and sleep deprivation began catching up with us. Monte thought he packed his Ambien, but we can’t find it, and we both have had a really hard time adjusting to the 12-hour time difference on this trip. I keep waking up at 2 am, unable to go back to sleep. Last night was the first night I slept more than 3 hours, so today I’m finally feeling better. I bought some "traditional chinese medicine" for sleep from a pharmacy today out of curiosity...it will be interesting to research it a bit when I get home, to see what is in it (it actually lists the ingredients in English, but I don't recognize most of them!) Our internet connection has been pretty patchy here, so updating the blog and skype has been more difficult…it’s working now, but it’s very early in the morning in the USA, so I guess we won’t be making a call!!
Today, we finally have some time to relax and get to know our son! Quinn has a more calm disposition than Zane, but it could easily change as the shock of everything lessens. He’s also still clearly preferring Monte, but he’s starting to warm up to me.J He has a sweet grin and loves to be held. He slept part of the night in his little bed, but woke up around 3 and would not get back in his bed, so he ended up sleeping the rest of the night with Monte. (Hotels here usually have 2 twin beds in the rooms.) He’ll point to us when others ask who his “mama” and “baba” are. He knows his body parts (in Chinese), and he talks a lot, and sometimes sings. He recognizes “twinkle, twinkle, little star”! He refuses to use “squatty potties”….which we couldn’t understand until we got to the orphanage. They have little western toilets for the children!! He cannot use a spoon or fork, yet, so there won’t be any “chopsticks” videos coming.J He’s six months younger than Zane was, and the developmental differences are pretty pronounced. He’s not fully potty-trained, so I’m glad I brought a full supply of diapers. We are happy about one thing, though - he can use bottles and sippy cups with the valve still in!!! So hopefully less spills! He’s not able to drink from an open cup, but did use a straw to down some “hot milk.” From a medical standpoint, before we came, his paperwork was not clear whether he had a left eye. So, he does have a left eye, but it is very small. It moves along with his right eye, though, so I would guess that is good. His vision in the right eye seems to be normal. We have his first appointment at Wake Forest in April.
He’s definitely still in 18 months clothes: the 2T pants and sweater he’s wearing today are tooo big! So, we’ll need to get more clothes when we get home….all of Zane’s clothes started at 2T, and I didn’t want to buy much until I knew what size Quinn was wearing.
We’d really appreciate your prayers. Yesterday afternoon was pretty discouraging, but we know that this is a very different culture. While the politics in the USA can be frustrating, we are very blessed to be American. We are confident that God is working in all of this, and it may be beyond building an earthly family….we hope that our spiritual family will grow through this adoption as well
Monday, March 19, 2012
Gotcha Day
Wow! The last 2 days have been a whirlwind!!! We’ve had minimal sleep and tons of activity. I’ll write more about Beijing when we have more time, but I know that many of you are so longing to meet Quinn (like I was!!! :))
So this am we got up at 4am, and took a flight to Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province. After settling into our hotel and getting paperwork in order with our guide, we were taken to the Civil Affairs office. Compared to the Civil affairs office in Guangzhou, an overwhelming experience in which many, many children were being adopted, this was a much more calm atmosphere with only 1 other family there. Quinn immediately took to Monte, especially as I was busy with paperwork and asking questions of the orphanage director, while she was available! Monte is the super-dad, today, as Quinn didn’t really want much to do with me!! (From what I’ve heard, this is common for several days after adoptions, so I’m not worried about it. True “attachment” requires a much longer period of time building trust and love!)
Quinn has been called “Hai-Hai”, and is, of course, precious! So far, he has been pretty quiet and content. He’s not quite as energetic as Zane J, but he certainly could hold his own with a ball! He’s had fun giggling with Monte, and very few cries (and those were understandable and easily soothed.) Unlike Zane, He did NOT like the bath! No bubbles for this boy. We ended up taking him out of the tub and finishing in the sink, but that didn’t really seem to help much. He calmed down once we got him out. I’m guessing he may never have been in a bathtub before. He did let me get him ready for bed, and he fell asleep before the first lullaby was over. That was also NOTHING like Zane, even now!! How wonderful it will be if it continues this way!!!! He came to us bundled up in several layers of clothing, as it is very cold here and even colder in Datong (it was snowing this am!) I thought he was a little on the chunky side, until we got all those layers of clothing off, and I saw that he is smaller than he first seemed!!
We got to skype with Zane, LaoLao, and Papa Bruce tonight, so Zane could meet his new little brother. Quinn has been very interested in our pictures of Zane, and is even saying “brother!”
Well I’ll get on to pictures, as we are getting up super early again in the am. We have about 8 hours of driving tomorrow to Datang City to get permission from the police department to issue his Chinese passport. We’re hoping to see the orphanage, but it may not be possible due to an 8pm curfew for certain highways. Either way, it will be another long day!
We are so thankful and blessed to be parents to this sweet little boy. God is so good!
So this am we got up at 4am, and took a flight to Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province. After settling into our hotel and getting paperwork in order with our guide, we were taken to the Civil Affairs office. Compared to the Civil affairs office in Guangzhou, an overwhelming experience in which many, many children were being adopted, this was a much more calm atmosphere with only 1 other family there. Quinn immediately took to Monte, especially as I was busy with paperwork and asking questions of the orphanage director, while she was available! Monte is the super-dad, today, as Quinn didn’t really want much to do with me!! (From what I’ve heard, this is common for several days after adoptions, so I’m not worried about it. True “attachment” requires a much longer period of time building trust and love!)
Quinn has been called “Hai-Hai”, and is, of course, precious! So far, he has been pretty quiet and content. He’s not quite as energetic as Zane J, but he certainly could hold his own with a ball! He’s had fun giggling with Monte, and very few cries (and those were understandable and easily soothed.) Unlike Zane, He did NOT like the bath! No bubbles for this boy. We ended up taking him out of the tub and finishing in the sink, but that didn’t really seem to help much. He calmed down once we got him out. I’m guessing he may never have been in a bathtub before. He did let me get him ready for bed, and he fell asleep before the first lullaby was over. That was also NOTHING like Zane, even now!! How wonderful it will be if it continues this way!!!! He came to us bundled up in several layers of clothing, as it is very cold here and even colder in Datong (it was snowing this am!) I thought he was a little on the chunky side, until we got all those layers of clothing off, and I saw that he is smaller than he first seemed!!
We got to skype with Zane, LaoLao, and Papa Bruce tonight, so Zane could meet his new little brother. Quinn has been very interested in our pictures of Zane, and is even saying “brother!”
Well I’ll get on to pictures, as we are getting up super early again in the am. We have about 8 hours of driving tomorrow to Datang City to get permission from the police department to issue his Chinese passport. We’re hoping to see the orphanage, but it may not be possible due to an 8pm curfew for certain highways. Either way, it will be another long day!
We are so thankful and blessed to be parents to this sweet little boy. God is so good!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)