Day-6: Getting a little more adjusted

(Yesterday's post has also been updated with some pictures and more details about our day.)

Today is Moriah's first full day with us! She slept well and woke up looking a little surprised to see where she was. She drank some water and ate some cheerios. She really seems to like Cheerios! We got dressed and went down to breakfast. She was very quiet and still but she ate well: congee, eggs, and watermelon. We went to the Lotus Superstore which is kind of like a Super Walmart but it is actually a popular chain from Thailand. We are really thankful for the baby carrier that we brought. She seems to like being in it and it makes us feel secure when getting in and out of taxi's and busy places. The store was busy and kind of crazy but really interesting. It had three floors. The first level was jewelry, the second was groceries and the third was household goods and clothes. I put a few pictures of the store up (the chicken legs are for you, Dan.) The escalators grabbed onto the wheels of the carts so we could go from level to level with our cart. It was really busy when we came out and difficult to get a taxi, but we made it back in one piece. (Riding in the taxi was an adventure in itself!) We decided to eat some pizza at the Italian restaurant here in the hotel. Moriah enjoyed sitting in the high chair and eating bits of bread, pizza and some mushroom soup. We haven't found anything she won't eat yet. During lunch, she began to smile and giggle and babble. It was almost like a switch went off and she decided to show us her true personality. When we came back to the room, she started to give me kisses and babble some more. I got her some little books at the store which she really enjoyed. She is really a cutie. Her smile could melt your heart. Andy is trying to get her settled down for a nap now. It is less rainy today. The sun even came out for awhile. Perhaps later we will go out for a walk and explore around the hotel a bit. It is amazing that we can love someone so much whom we have only known for a short time. We just can't take our eyes off of her beautiful face. She has beautiful, long eyelashes and the sweetest little nose and lips that you can imagine. Once again, thanks so much for all of your prayers and comments. It is so great to know how often our little one has been brought before the Father.

Day-5: Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

More to follow...off to some appointments...

1930: It is difficult to find words to describe today's experience! Since we are quite exhausted as you can imagine we'll try to capture the day after a nights rest (hopefully...she's sleeping peacefully right now:). We want to thank all of you for your prayers and encouragement--you all are a tremendous blessing to us!!! Bid you all a good evening (morning) from Zhengzhou. What a glorious God we serve!!! 1 Thes 5: 24

It is now Tusesday afternoon. I have had some time at last to reflect on yesterday in a little more detail. At about 9:30 a.m. yesterday, our guide Yisha came up to our room with the orphanage director and a nanny. In her arms was our Zheng Mei. She had been asleep on the drive over and looked pretty stunned. We went into our room and they placed her in Andy's arms. She didn't cry or whimper. She just looked kind of dazed. She let us pass her back and forth and take lots of pictures. After we signed the papers, the orphanage director and nanny left and we had a few minutes with her. Soon, we had to go out to several offices to sign papers. It was a strange walk on a street that was all torn up. We got a family photo for the adoption certificate and did lots of other paper work. It was hot and smelly and while we were out it began to rain. We were all feeling pretty tired and stressed. We came back to the hotel for a couple of hours. Moriah seemed a little more alert. She ate some snacks and played with some toys. We were a little concerned because we couldn't get her to drink anything. At about 3:00 we had to go out on the street again to finish our paperwork. It took about two hours to get it all done. We came back and ordered some room service. We tried to give her a bath, but she wasn't too thrilled with that. She settled down about 7:30 and slept through the night. She is unbelievably cute and so sweet. We saw tiny glimpses of her personality, but we could tell that she wasn't sure about all of this and us. She never gave out a big cry, but she often gave little grunts of unhappiness. Before bed, we sang together (Jesus Loves Me, Psalm 1, and the Doxology) and read John 10 (the Good Shepherd), she went from whimpering to a quiet contentment. Perhaps it is us hearing things but she seemed to say "Bible" and pat God's Word as Andy read. Her life was changed forever on this day and so was ours. Our hearts are so full that it is hard to express in words. Psalm 116:12 and 17 seem to express our feelings best, "What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving." We brought a little booklet with us called "Helping Your Adopted Child" by Paul David Tripp. We thought this quote was appropriate: "on the hard days you must remind yourself, What I am doing right now, although hard, is close to God's heart and what I am doing is exactly what God has called his children to do." (Psalm 68:5, Isaiah 1:17, Jeremiah 5:28) We have been blessed beyond measure. Our hearts are full.

Day-4:Arrival in Zhengzhou

Andy and I awoke at about 1:00 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep. It was thundering very loudly for hours. We seem to be having trouble getting over the jet lag. So we are tired, but excited tonight. We are hoping to get some good rest tonight because tomorrow is the Big Day!!


We left the hotel in Beijing at 8:30 and drove as close as we could get to the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. It was wet and rainy, but sill neat to see. You can see us with our guide Helen and her uncle in the photo above. That is the Bird's nest in the background. From there we went to the airport. Our guide helped us to get our luggage checked and after about an hour and a half plane ride, we found ourselves in Zhengzhou. The airport was large and clean, but mostly empty. We took about a 45 minute bus ride to our hotel--the Crown Plaza. There are several restaurants inside, including an Italian one where Andy and I got some pizza tonight. There is also a Cuban cigar store, which Andy thought was pretty neat. The differences between Beijing and Zhengzhou are quite obvious. Beijing is clean and modern (at least the changes made for the Olympics make it seem so) while Zhengzhou seems much poorer. Zhenzhou (ZZ) is the capitol of the Henan province which is the poorest province in China. The contrast is absolutely striking compared to Beijing. In many ways it feels as if we arrived in another country. ZZ has a population of 7 million and is mostly an industrial city set on agricultural land and the haze smog and dreary weather certainly contribute to our first impressions of the city. But we are also reminded that this is Moriah's city, so while it is very foreign it is very special to us and will always be. Andy and I are already looking forward to the time we can bring all of the family back here to Moriah's birthplace.

Mr. Zhou, the orphanage director will bring Moriah here to our hotel room tomorrow morning around 9:30. For those of you in Colorado, that will be 7:30 p.m. Sunday night. Our guide brought some milk formula powder and some snacks by for her. We've got her toys and blanket all ready. It is all beginning to feel very real!

Day-3: The Great Wall

Once again we enjoyed a busy day playing tourist in Beijing. We started off with a beautiful drive out of the city. It was interesting to see the city give way to countryside. There were lots of beautiful trees and flowers all along the road. It made me think of Hawaii with Oleander and Hibiscus. There were also many colors of roses and huge fields of cosmos. After about 30 minutes of driving, we stopped at a jade factory. It was interesting to see some craftsmen working with jade and lots of jade pieces for sale. I did not know about the "jade culture" in China, but we learned a little more today. It is traditional for a mother to give her daughter a jade bangle when she gets married. Then the daughter wears the bangle until her daughter gets married and she passes it on. At one time only the emperor and his court could wear jade.

As we continued our drive, we began to see the mountains and then the Great Wall. It was a stunning sight. The mountains were kind of misty and we could see layer after layer of them. Curving through it was the wall. We began to climb the very uneven and worn stairs. I quickly got tired and quit. Andy, on the other hand, went up quite far. He hiked with our guides uncle and the grandma that is accompanying our travel mates. Several others in our group went up some distance, but those three went the farthest. I spent my time at the bottom exploring around and people watching. I kept thinking how much Kimberly, Caleb and Josiah would have enjoyed. It was easy to imagine the invading Mongols coming over that ridge and the Hans defending their land. What an amazing place!

We had lunch at a touristy restaurant and store and then headed home. We tried to go by the Bird's Nest, but it was blocked off because tonight is the opening ceremonies for the paralympics. We are hoping to drive by it on our way to the airport tomorrow morning.

It was nice today to have some time to get to know our travel mates better. We are all getting eager to meet our new family members and we are looking forward to sharing this experience with each other.

Tonight Andy and I walked down the street to McDonalds. We stopped for awhile on a pedestrian overpass to watch the crazy traffic. There were bicyclists and pedestrians, cars, buses and taxi's all going in every direction. It was entertaining to stand above it all and watch.

We're packed up and ready to head to Zhengzhou tomorrow. Monday morning is "gotcha day" for Moriah Mei! We are so thankful for the Lord's faithfulness in all of these things. We want to say thank you for all of the prayers that have been lifted on our behalf.

Day-2: How to Overcome Jetlag: Beijing style

Our guide Helen (also known as "Super Helen" )

took us so many places today that we forgot how tired we were. We started the day with a breakfast buffet here at the hotel. They had lots of familiar breakfast foods as well as many Chinese options. At nine o'clock we met our travel mates and got on the bus bound for Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. It seemed a little surreal to be standing in such historically significant places. The Forbidden City goes on and on with layer after layer of courtyards and buildings. It is an amazing place. Next we went to a 400 year old restaurant for lunch. We're not sure exactly what we ate, but it was good! After lunch, we went to a silk factory where we learned how silk is made. Then we were off to a Huton, which is an ancient type of Chinese home. We rode on rickshaws through tiny alley ways. Andy and I felt sorry for the fairly elderly man who was pedaling us around! We stopped and had tea with a gentleman who told us about his family and his life. He had grown up in this Hutong with his brothers and sisters. The Hutong is built in a quadrangle with one portion for each of the three generations of family. The fourth side is for the servants. The center is a garden type of area where there are trees and plants. It was interesting to see this simple and ancient way of life. Along the way there were tiny produce shops and other shops. People were gathered to visit, smoke and play majong. After just enough time to get a bottle of cold water, we were off to a Chinese tea ceremony. We sampled lots of different kinds of tea and bought some to bring home. Then we were back in the bus to go to an acrobatic show. Incredible only begins to describe the things that these young people could do. They were all under twenty years old. They were so strong and flexible. It was amazing. Finally, we went to a traditional duck dinner. By this time we were almost too exhausted to eat, so Helen mercifully brought us back to our hotel. Part of the adventure of the day was just travelling on the Beijing streets. It seems miraculous that no pedestrians or bicyclists were killed by our bus today. The driving was at least as entertaining and thrilling as anything else that we experienced! It was a terrific day. We are excited to be here, but our beds will feel awfully good tonight! Tomorrow, we will go to the Great Wall and a jade factory.

Thanks for your comments and prayers!

Day-1: Lighter is Better

We arrived in Beijing. Hooray! One tip if you're ever coming to China....pack light! Our bag which was 5 pounds over the fifty pound limit was going to cost us an extra $400! Yikes! Thankfully we were able to do some quick repacking. We were left with two very heavy carry-ons but our checked luggage fit under the weight limit. Otherwise our trip was long but uneventful. There were a lot of Paralympians on the plane with us. The opening ceremonies for the Paralympics are tomorrow. At the Beijing airport there appeared to be many people arriving from many different countries for this event. We met our guide, Helen, easily. She took us to our hotel and gave us lots of good information as we travelled along. The parts of Beijing that we saw were really beautiful. The flowers made me think of Hawaii. Every few blocks there would be a beautiful park with large weeping willow trees and flowers. Tomorrow will be an exciting day as we will see many of the sights in Beijing. Hopefully we'll get some good pictures to share. We will also meet the other two families who will be traveling with us for the rest of our trip.

We are so thankful to the Lord for His faithfulness in bringing us to this point. We are also thankful to our parents who are helping with our kids at home. Even though we miss them, we know they will have a great time making memories with their grandparents. And in just a few short days, we will have Moriah in our arms. Now we are going to go to bed because we cannot keep our eyes open! Thanks for all of your prayers!

The countdown is on!

We spent a wonderful last weekend as a family of five.  I had hoped that we would be able to make some sweet memories and we did.  Every so often one of us would say, "this is the last time we'll eat Chinese as a family of five" or "this is the last time we'll go to church as a family of five."  Sunday night we had a wonderful time of hymn singing and prayer with my family. On Monday we went to the Balloon Classic. The winds aloft were headed in a westerly direction which prevented some of the balloons from taking off. The ones that did take off were beautiful.  Afterwards we went to our church for a potluck breakfast. Last night we went out for Chinese food with Andy's parents. We checked off a lot of things on our to-do list, but today will still be quite busy with last minute packing and preparing. 

We want to thank everyone who has responded to our blog. It has been fun to hear from friends and family from around the world. It reminds me of how richly we are blessed by God.  One of the best things about our 12 years in the Air Force is the wonderful friends who blessed our lives in each place we lived.  Each of you holds a special place in our hearts. We are thrilled to share our journey to Moriah with all of you. We will do our best to respond to e-mails and comments. 

We will leave our house very early tomorrow morning.  My parents will come to stay with the kids tonight and Andy's parents will take us to the airport in the morning.  We are ready to go!!

--Amy