Gotcha Day!!!

Today started out pretty much like every other day: Alarm went off; showered; shaved; got the baby bag and paperwork togeth...OK, that was where it was different. We went down to the hotel lobby and had a rather weird breakfast (I actually had sea cucumber at one point), then all met together, waiting for the bus.



To say we were anxious would be the height of understatement...even for those who had been here and done that.

As we rode the bus to the "gotcha" location--some government office building with a nice little park out front (that will be important later)--it started to hit me. Maybe it's my Oklahoma public education...maybe I'm just slow...maybe I've been compartmentalizing a bit too much. Who knows. Regardless, it really started to become real at that point for me: Holy crap! I'm getting a kid!

I wasn't the first through the door this time, I'm sure to the chagrin of some in our group. It's probably been a point of annoyance for some that I seem to be in the front a lot. It's not on purpose...I promise! But I heard those who had already been through the door say, "They're already here!" Turns out, Caden was one of the ones who had already arrived. I walked through the door, Yisha is already calling, "Liu Jin Jie." I'm stripping off bags as fast as I can, telling Mom to get the camera going, looking around frantically for my little boy...and someone walks up with a little kid, no cleft repair, dressed all in pink. Again...I realize I have an Oklahoma public education, but I was pretty sure that wasn't Caden. I swung my head to the right, to the play area, and see my precious little boy, dressed all in blue...except for his zebra-striped James Brown shoes. And the nanny starts walking toward me. No big build up. Just BAM. There he is.






We've got tons of video, but we'll have to update with it when I get back.

The little guy wasn't particularly happy to be handed to a big, white, bald-headed man. Probably not what he thought was going to happen when he got in the car that morning. I can certainly understand his being upset. But with some food, some play, and some walking around outside in that beautiful little park (more video on that later), he came around. He really hammed it up on the bus ride back to the hotel.





He fell sound asleep about ten minutes out from the hotel. But we still had one family who had to receive their little girl. They had been there for us, so we were going to be there for them. Up to the fourth floor landing with a 30-lb bag of lovable dead weight and we all stood there waiting for Jeremiah and Andrea's little girl to arrive (she had a much longer trip and couldn't be at the government building with the rest of the kids). Caden slept right through that, too.

He was up for a while after that, eating like a maniac. I was hoping he would nap through me having to go do paperwork, but no such luck. He stayed in the room and played with Mom while I took care of the paperwork for tomorrow with the other parents. He also decided to grace Mom with the first poop. Too bad I missed that...:-)

Caden's finally down for a real nap now. Dinner after he wakes up, more playtime, then a bath and bed. Long day for all of us. Let's hope the night goes well...

Day 2 - The Great Wall, Amazing Race Porta Potties and traffic that makes you miss DC....

After crashing hard last night around 9:00 and sleeping (or trying to) near a buzzsaw called Mother, we got an early start today. If we weren't awake when we got on the bus, the traffic certainly woke us up:






We went to a government jade store--which is good, apparently, ensuring the quality (and authenticity) of the jade. Jade being the diamonds of China, of course. We heard many interesting concubine-related tales involving jade yesterday at the Forbidden City, as well as the health-supporting qualities of jade, so we were all looking forward to the opportunity to see artisans working with and purchase this miracle stone. It was quite interesting and they got a good bit of money from several of us, but I cleared out half of my shopping list and knew that I purchased high-quality stuff at the price I was told to purchase it...so a win-win, I suppose.





Then it was on to the main event: The Great Wall of China. Turns out that now, I'm officially both a man and a Hero of the People's Republic of China. Chairman Mao said so. All because I climbed my fool ass up and down that wall. It was definitely worth the pain to say I did it, but holy crap was that thing steep and were those steps hard to deal with! Uneven does not begin to adequately describe them. Some were four inches high, some were two feet high. It was completely random. It wasn't like you could just get a mindless rhythm going and just start cruising...you had to watch every step, going up and coming down. But man, was it worth it--and not just to receive the labels from Chairman Mao, either.




After the Great Wall, we went to lunch, where they had some complimentary "Beijing White Liquor" on the table. The three guys at our table all took a sample shot. Smelled and tasted just like tequila. One shot was plenty--especially for someone who's had a really bad tequila experience. As with yesterday, the food was great. The restaurant was right above a government "cloissone" store, which is a type of copper artwork. It was beautiful, and there were some nice Christmas ornaments--but they weren't on the approved shopping list. So I just browsed...while being hounded by the staff. But I really think Adreanna and Addie would've liked some of the ornaments I saw. Oh well...

Then it was on to the Olympic Village for a brief stop to take pictures of the Bird's Nest stadium and Water Cube natatorium. Both beautiful structures in their own right. But Adreanna and I are huge fans of The Amazing Race, and I saw something on the grounds there that made Amazing Race history: porta-potties. A year or so ago, a team was racing for the pit stop at the Bird's Nest. One of the contestants just couldn't hold it any more and had to stop at one of the porta-potties nearby...and it cost that team the race. So I just HAD to take a picture...



Early start tomorrow. We get on the plane to Zhengzhou, then Wednesday is Gotcha Day. The anticipation and tension is building for all of us. We were all talking a lot more about it today...it's getting more real, I think. It's really good that we've got someone with us (Brandy) who adopted from Zhengzhou just a year and a half ago--she's been giving us a lot of helpful information on how everything went with her.

More tomorrow with impressions of Zhengzhou.

First Day In Beijing

Really. I'm happy to be here. Seriously.

We started the day with a trip to the Hutong "Alley" District, near the Forbidden City. We took a rickshaw (a "semiautomatic BMW" in the words of our guide, George) to the home of a resident, Mrs Feng, a retired high school physics teacher. She showed us her "old school" home, which was the same type home Chinese diplomats lived in during Imperial days.






After lunch, we went to Tianenmen Square and the Forbidden City. George provided quite a bit of interesting "non textbook" information for us regarding the background of certain landmarks and rituals in China's history related to what we were seeing. So much so that he drew a crowd of locals at times. I'm not sure they understodd his English, but they seemed to enjoy his stories. At that point, it also got VERY windy...





We didn't get to see as much as originally planned, due to some foreign dignitaries showing up and military police shutting off a majority of the Forbidden City. I snapped a picture of the party poopers before they got started:


We ended up sitting around with a few thousand of our closest friends, waiting for the one exit to open up so we could leave. The crush of people trying to get out was unbelievable! No OSHA standards here!

Throughout the day, all of us in the group learned more about each other. That made the day worthwhile, regardless of any tours we took.

Early day today. Great Wall, Olympic Village and acrobat show tomorrow. Everyone was seeming to wear down in the early afternoon, so it was a good call on George's part to shuffle the original schedule around a bit. We're looking forward to the Great Wall...but looking forward to Wednesday (Gotcha Day) even more.

And they are off.....

The taxi came and picked up Bob and Tillie at 5:30 this morning to get them to the airport. Yesterday we were all running around like chickens with our heads cut off. However, when they left this morning I think that they had everything they needed.....or at least they had the important stuff. I think they both were very excited and apprehensive about the trip but I know they will both do great!!!

Almost 12 hours later according to their flight status, they are about an hour outside of Tokyo, Japan. They have a three hour layover (praying for no earthquakes) and then about a three hour flight to Beijing. They will arrive in Beijing 8:50 Saturday night or about 7:50 Saturday morning for us - there is a 13 hour difference (if I calculated it correctly). As much as I wish I was on this trip with them - I am thankful that I didn't have to be in an airplane for that long:-)

Keep checking back over the next couple of days. Bob & Tillie will be visiting The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City while they are trying to get used to China and the new time. Wed. will be Gotcha Day for Caden. We are praying that Caden will receive Bob's love with an open heart. It is such a difficult time for the kiddos - everything they have known is being ripped away from them. We just hope that Caden will know that his father is a safe place for him.

Mongo Posting

Mom arrived today, and it's been "Packapalooza" trying to get everything together. I'm sure we'll miss something. I've closed out everything at work, have tomorrow off to run around like chickens with our heads cut off, scrambling to make sure we don't miss that thing that we most assuredly will miss.

Then it's an oh-dark-thirty step to the taxi on Friday to catch the flight. I can't believe that in just a few days, I'm going to be holding my new son. And before that, I'm going to be walking on one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Surreal does not begin to adequately describe it.


I pray Nathan continues to grow healthier while I'm gone...


Addie's soooo looking forward to her little brother getting here.

This is mostly just to make sure I'm able to get in here and post. I'll make sure to provide more meaningful/creative information in a few days...I hope.

TA!

I can't believe it is finally happening. We received notification today that China has issued our Travel Approval and we are welcome to come and get Caden. We now have to wait for the US Consulate to make an appt and we will have our dates. Right now it looks like it can happen as soon as April 15th. Crazy!!! We have so much to do before Bob travels and before Caden gets here!! This adoption journey has been so much different than our journey was for Addison. With Addison there was a sense of urgency about the adoption, this time around has been much more laid back. It is probably because we know that eventually we would be holding Caden in our arms.

As much as I am excited for both Bob and Tillie to be able to experience the China portion of this journey, I am sad that I won't be there too. I know they will have an amazing time and the trip will change their lives in so many ways. Bob plans on keeping up on the blog - so we hope you follow along!!