My Sunday morning began in a quiet way, a quiet breakfast by myself, and then a quiet walk through the park. The park was the whole reason I had chosen this hotel so I was stoked to check it out.
The park wasn’t so quiet, but I was. The park was interesting, beautiful, and breath taking. It really is one of the prettiest places I can remember in China, even compared to our first trip. There is a lake in the middle of the park, parts of it being surrounded by tulips, others by cherry blossoms, and others by trees, and others by bamboo trees. There is a gazillion old stone trails that surround the lake, with lots of little bridges, that go to whatever kind of adventure you want to go on. I saw all different kinds of people doing all different kinds of things. Parts of the park were completely quiet with a young couple cuddling, another part had music play with an older couple dancing (how sweet), another part had a band playing, and all throughout there were women dancing/doing exercise …doing something ti chi (I can’t think of it at the moment). There were also outdoor restaurants, and a bit of amusement park that had children’s rides I had never seen before. Most of the buildings were constructed in Chinese fashion (beautiful). I walked for over an hour, at an exercise pace, and didn’t cover the whole park. Although there were probably thousands of people there, I definitely stuck out, I saw a total of 4 other foreigners … for the most part I felt like I blended right in.
Oh, another part before I get to the best part of my day … I have a mountain view and park view out of my window. How AWESOME is that! For those of you who know me well, mountains are one of the ways that my Creator and Father speaks to me, so how comforting to when I opened up my window to see a little mountain. AWESOME!
Okay, so now I’m going to forward several hours and it is now 2:30 and I’m in a taxi with my guide. We are on our way to a Chinese adoption office to meet Jase and for me to bring him back to the hotel. Now I start to feel nervous, there are butterflies in my stomach. We drive for almost thirty minutes and we get to what looks like an apartment building complex. We get out and the guard at the gate does not know where we need to go, but lets us in. We walk around for about 10 minutes and can’t find the building we were looking for. You would think I would be a bit panicky, but nope, not even slightly nervous. There have been a couple of things that have happened on this trip, they misspelled Jase’s name for his airplane seat and after an hour in Seattle of trying to fix it he sent me on the airplane (speedy access through security) otherwise I would have missed my plane – I didn’t worry for a second. After another half hour in San Francisco they were able to fix it, and me the whole time, “calm.” So honestly, that is usually not me … I tend to be more the over excited one in my marriage =)
So my guide finally calls the people and they come out of the building and wave us to where we need to go. We are there before Jase, so we need to wait for a while for him. Two other boys are outside waiting for their families to come, and also one foster mom who is in tears … her foster child already having left with his/her forever family. That was tender to see, as clearly the foster mom was grieving a child that she loved.
So after of waiting for about 30 minutes with the woman from the Chinese adoption office and Mr. Li (my guide) talking in Chinese, only once me understanding what they were talking about because of the expression on the woman’s face. Later Mr. Li asked me if I spoke Chinese, I told him no =) He had told her how many kids I had, and her expression was one I knew. It was a sweet surprised expression. She thought I was very young based on the way I looked which is why he told her.
So after about 30 minutes, our son walked into the room with a nanny from the orphanage. They tried to give him to me but on first attempt he ran away and was crying and screaming. After a third try they were able to successfully hand him to me, him the whole time screaming, him at first reaching for the nanny. So many thoughts are flooding my mind at this time, will I have to carry a screaming child down the long road of the building complex. But Jase cried for a few minutes and then stopped, and then he was so quiet that he started falling asleep, him at one point being completely asleep. My thought as I tenderly held our new precious son, his body is molding right into mine. There was no stiffness, he had clearly been loved on, Jase knew how to receive physical affection. THANK YOU JESUS! My other thoughts: “he is so stinking cute, and oh my I would climb any mountain for you … I’m your mamma, I felt the mamma bear in me come out.
They told me that Jase was very active. They repeated this continuously, I think they were worried I didn’t understand. They told me he will climb on to anything and can run away very fast. They also told me he is very outgoing. And they told me that about a week ago he had been moved from his foster family to the orphanage, where he was still struggling to fit into the routine of the orphanage. PRAISES, they didn’t move him until last week. In some places they move the kids as soon as they find out they have a family. Poor little guy, he has already gone through such huge change. I bet he didn’t stop crying after a few minutes the first time he moved.
Jase was half asleep the whole way back to the hotel in the taxi, me thoroughly enjoying the tender moments of being able to do wholly hold our new son. He was still sleeping once we got to the hotel room. After a little bit he woke up and was very quiet. We skyped Sam and talked with him for a while, I think he stayed on for at least two hours. It was neat because Sam got to see Jase slowly open up. I gave Jase some Cherrios, and he let me feed him and eventually I showed him how to take it out of the snack container (thank you Aumony for those),and I gave him a pineapple yogurt drink (SUPER YUM). He received the food and let me feed him – awesome! And slowly he opened up. I was smiling at him, gently playing with him and a little smile creeped up. Then what he did is something that Kody usually does to strangers, Jase smiled at me and then kind of rolled his eyes in an adorable drama kind of way. Totally adorable, and made me crack up. Sam then started playing peek a boo, which made Jase totally crack up. And from then on, OH MY HEART. He let me read a book to him, he let me tickle him, he initiated a foot game with me, he loved all of the toys I brought, and he was constantly in laughter at his Daddy via skype who was trying to make him laugh. It felt a little bit like Sam was here.
We shared a noodle dish together in the room, he totally let me feed him. He also would let me know when he wanted more, by pointing. He did that a lot, I can tell that because of his palette sounds are hard. I hope we can get his surgeries started right away.
The rest of the night was good. Jase took a bath which started with him crying when I got him ready for the bath, to him splashing me intentionally near the end and him cracking up laughing, thinking it was hilarious. I braved it, not knowing his reaction, and took a shower with Jase. Again, his body sank into mine … precious!
When it came for bed time, well he didn’t want to go. He didn’t cry or scream, he was just constantly sitting up. I put him back down every time and after a couple of hours, he finally fell asleep. I could tell at this point that he really didn’t want me close, although I did lay with him for a while, I was not really the person he wanted. Which is totally understandable and actually so healthy … yippee … I would have to say he was respectful of even that =)
So now it is 4:30 AM and I can’t sleep but Jase is sleeping and has been sleeping. We have to leave at 8:00 AM to legalize the adoption, I am going to be interviewed by different officials.
I can FEEL YOUR PRAYERS! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Your prayers mean soooooooooooooooooooooooooo much, they are my water and bread so to speak.
So in a couple of hours, day two will start … I am trusting Jesus for the details!
The park wasn’t so quiet, but I was. The park was interesting, beautiful, and breath taking. It really is one of the prettiest places I can remember in China, even compared to our first trip. There is a lake in the middle of the park, parts of it being surrounded by tulips, others by cherry blossoms, and others by trees, and others by bamboo trees. There is a gazillion old stone trails that surround the lake, with lots of little bridges, that go to whatever kind of adventure you want to go on. I saw all different kinds of people doing all different kinds of things. Parts of the park were completely quiet with a young couple cuddling, another part had music play with an older couple dancing (how sweet), another part had a band playing, and all throughout there were women dancing/doing exercise …doing something ti chi (I can’t think of it at the moment). There were also outdoor restaurants, and a bit of amusement park that had children’s rides I had never seen before. Most of the buildings were constructed in Chinese fashion (beautiful). I walked for over an hour, at an exercise pace, and didn’t cover the whole park. Although there were probably thousands of people there, I definitely stuck out, I saw a total of 4 other foreigners … for the most part I felt like I blended right in.
Okay, so now I’m going to forward several hours and it is now 2:30 and I’m in a taxi with my guide. We are on our way to a Chinese adoption office to meet Jase and for me to bring him back to the hotel. Now I start to feel nervous, there are butterflies in my stomach. We drive for almost thirty minutes and we get to what looks like an apartment building complex. We get out and the guard at the gate does not know where we need to go, but lets us in. We walk around for about 10 minutes and can’t find the building we were looking for. You would think I would be a bit panicky, but nope, not even slightly nervous. There have been a couple of things that have happened on this trip, they misspelled Jase’s name for his airplane seat and after an hour in Seattle of trying to fix it he sent me on the airplane (speedy access through security) otherwise I would have missed my plane – I didn’t worry for a second. After another half hour in San Francisco they were able to fix it, and me the whole time, “calm.” So honestly, that is usually not me … I tend to be more the over excited one in my marriage =)
So my guide finally calls the people and they come out of the building and wave us to where we need to go. We are there before Jase, so we need to wait for a while for him. Two other boys are outside waiting for their families to come, and also one foster mom who is in tears … her foster child already having left with his/her forever family. That was tender to see, as clearly the foster mom was grieving a child that she loved.
So after of waiting for about 30 minutes with the woman from the Chinese adoption office and Mr. Li (my guide) talking in Chinese, only once me understanding what they were talking about because of the expression on the woman’s face. Later Mr. Li asked me if I spoke Chinese, I told him no =) He had told her how many kids I had, and her expression was one I knew. It was a sweet surprised expression. She thought I was very young based on the way I looked which is why he told her.
So after about 30 minutes, our son walked into the room with a nanny from the orphanage. They tried to give him to me but on first attempt he ran away and was crying and screaming. After a third try they were able to successfully hand him to me, him the whole time screaming, him at first reaching for the nanny. So many thoughts are flooding my mind at this time, will I have to carry a screaming child down the long road of the building complex. But Jase cried for a few minutes and then stopped, and then he was so quiet that he started falling asleep, him at one point being completely asleep. My thought as I tenderly held our new precious son, his body is molding right into mine. There was no stiffness, he had clearly been loved on, Jase knew how to receive physical affection. THANK YOU JESUS! My other thoughts: “he is so stinking cute, and oh my I would climb any mountain for you … I’m your mamma, I felt the mamma bear in me come out.
They told me that Jase was very active. They repeated this continuously, I think they were worried I didn’t understand. They told me he will climb on to anything and can run away very fast. They also told me he is very outgoing. And they told me that about a week ago he had been moved from his foster family to the orphanage, where he was still struggling to fit into the routine of the orphanage. PRAISES, they didn’t move him until last week. In some places they move the kids as soon as they find out they have a family. Poor little guy, he has already gone through such huge change. I bet he didn’t stop crying after a few minutes the first time he moved.
Jase was half asleep the whole way back to the hotel in the taxi, me thoroughly enjoying the tender moments of being able to do wholly hold our new son. He was still sleeping once we got to the hotel room. After a little bit he woke up and was very quiet. We skyped Sam and talked with him for a while, I think he stayed on for at least two hours. It was neat because Sam got to see Jase slowly open up. I gave Jase some Cherrios, and he let me feed him and eventually I showed him how to take it out of the snack container (thank you Aumony for those),and I gave him a pineapple yogurt drink (SUPER YUM). He received the food and let me feed him – awesome! And slowly he opened up. I was smiling at him, gently playing with him and a little smile creeped up. Then what he did is something that Kody usually does to strangers, Jase smiled at me and then kind of rolled his eyes in an adorable drama kind of way. Totally adorable, and made me crack up. Sam then started playing peek a boo, which made Jase totally crack up. And from then on, OH MY HEART. He let me read a book to him, he let me tickle him, he initiated a foot game with me, he loved all of the toys I brought, and he was constantly in laughter at his Daddy via skype who was trying to make him laugh. It felt a little bit like Sam was here.
We shared a noodle dish together in the room, he totally let me feed him. He also would let me know when he wanted more, by pointing. He did that a lot, I can tell that because of his palette sounds are hard. I hope we can get his surgeries started right away.
The rest of the night was good. Jase took a bath which started with him crying when I got him ready for the bath, to him splashing me intentionally near the end and him cracking up laughing, thinking it was hilarious. I braved it, not knowing his reaction, and took a shower with Jase. Again, his body sank into mine … precious!
When it came for bed time, well he didn’t want to go. He didn’t cry or scream, he was just constantly sitting up. I put him back down every time and after a couple of hours, he finally fell asleep. I could tell at this point that he really didn’t want me close, although I did lay with him for a while, I was not really the person he wanted. Which is totally understandable and actually so healthy … yippee … I would have to say he was respectful of even that =)
So now it is 4:30 AM and I can’t sleep but Jase is sleeping and has been sleeping. We have to leave at 8:00 AM to legalize the adoption, I am going to be interviewed by different officials.
I can FEEL YOUR PRAYERS! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Your prayers mean soooooooooooooooooooooooooo much, they are my water and bread so to speak.
So in a couple of hours, day two will start … I am trusting Jesus for the details!
Comments
Congratulations to your entire family on your new son and little brother! So thankful for Skype, and that Sam got to share in those precious first hours!
Not sure if Mr. Li will remember us, but will you tell him hello from the Bryan Winder Family in Texas? We adopted our daughter, Theadora, in May 2008, from Zhuhai (Guangdong Province). She went by Xiao Xiao (like the beginning of {show}er) and was three years old at the time of her adoption . . . she's also a cleft baby. (Just one more reason why I am loving your sweet Jace's beautiful smile!)
Congrats again! Enjoy your boy! God is good--right down to the mountain view!
Blessings~
Tina
Your hearts are beautiful and I am so inspired by your obedience and faithfullness.
Jace is a doll, just as all of your kids are. You have a gorgeous brood and you are Blessed Beyond Belief!
Safe travels. Lifting you up through your transition. Kiss all those precious kids for me.
Peace, Grace and Love,
Tanya
Much love to you both!
Aumony