Adoption of Anna Hope

Our trip home was pretty normal except for a tight connection in Beijing with 10 minutes to spare and an hour late arrival into Orlando from Newark.  My sister and bro-in-law and two of their kids met us, along with some very good friends of ours (Doug and Wendy Gohn and their two children) at 12:30 am.  Oh yes, our three kids were also there and it was really good to see them. 

When we arrived in Newark and cleared immigration, our little Anna Hope became an American!  We asked if we could take a picture with the border control agent, but they would not let us.  Pretty tight on security with 18 month old infants.  They even stopped us going through security and made us take off her shoes.  I started to tell them that the only thing I could hide in those shoes was a nail clipper, but decided not to make trouble this far into the trip.  Anyway, they concluded she wasn't much of a security threat and we made it through.

Even though we have concluded the "Gotcha" journey, the real journey of Anna Hope's life is just beginning.  We read in Colossians 1:15 this morning that God has "delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son".  We believe we have now done this physically and emotionally for Anna Hope, but the real fruit will be when it happens with her spiritually at some point in her life.  We are trusting God to bring this to fruition in her life as she comes to know His forgiveness and love for her. 

Here is an arrival photo that shows how proud Anna Hope is to be an American!

Phil

We are finished!

We received Anna Hope's visa today and completed the oath ceremony at the U.S. Consulate.  There were so many kids there being adopted!  Must have been over 100 in our room, and they did multiple sessions through the day.  Amazing.

As I write this last blog entry in China, I am feeling a lot of different emotions.  This has been an experience of a lifetime.  We have learned to trust God in the littlest things, and we are so thankful that He has helped us throughout the experience.  We have really made some good friends with the other couples, and it was a little hard to say goodbye to several of them that we won't see tomorrow morning.  When you get a lot of people together that share the same values and faith, and have them go through a really challenging experience, it is to be expected that you will develop some deep friendships in a very short period of time.

It has also been very difficult to spend two weeks away from our other children.  We really miss them and are thankful that we can trust them to be alone for this period of time.  This is a real blessing from God.  We can't wait for them to meet Anna Hope and get to know her.

We have also been encouraged by your comments and emails.  It is interesting that our blog has had over 60 views each day, and many of you have sent emails and made comments.  THANKS for doing this.  It has been very encouraging!

We leave the hotel tomorrow morning (Friday) at 7;45 am (7:45 pm Thursday night in the U.S.) and will arrive in Orlando at 11:24 pm via Continental Airlines from Newark.  Can't wait to get home!

As I close this blog, I must give a special thanks to God for Him continuing to work out His will in our lives. 

Here are a couple of final pictures from today!

Phil

Our agency representative turned in all our visa documents today to the U.S. Consulate, and everything seems to be in order.  Tomorrow, we go to the U.S. Consulate to take an oath at 2:30 pm and pick up Anna Hope's visa and immigration papers.  We only have two more nights in this hotel and then we are on the way home. 

Anna Hope played for the longest time yet by herself in our room without crying to be picked up.  I blew up a balloon for her and showed her how to kick it.  This may have been the first time she has ever seen a balloon.  It is really hard to tell.  She did not seem to know what it was until after I showed her, and then she became interested in it.  We take so many things for granted that kids experience in the first 18 months of life, and we have to keep reminding ourselves that everything could be new to her. 

We also heard our first laugh today (okay, maybe a chuckle, but we are putting it in the laugh category).  She and I were playing peek-a-boo, and then I would tickle her, and she would smile and laugh.  I had just been wondering when we would hear our first laugh, and there it was. 

One of Anna's favorite things to do is go to the restaurant at the hotel.  She likes sitting on my lap, putting on her bib, and putting the white linen napkin in her lap.  Take away any of these three elements and life is not good for her (or us).  It is really cute to watch her set herself up (especially with the white napkin).

We took a walk away from our hotel today into one of the local neighborhoods.  We followed several alleys into where the nationals live and found ourselves in the midst of the real Chinese culture.  We looked very out of place and got quite a few stares.  Very small stores lined both sides of the alley, and everything you can imagine was for sale, from food to plumbing.  Above the stores were the apartment bulldings (all fairly run down).  We did not feel in danger at all.  In fact, we have felt safe all the time in China (much more so than in Latin America).

Priscilla is feeling a bit better and I expect her to be close to 100% by Friday. 

Here is a picture of Anna Hope and me writing this blog.

Phil

Today (Tuesday) was a pretty easy day, with no official business being conducted.  The highlight of the day was when we went to a supermarket to buy some things for Anna Hope.  The hotel staff said we should take the subway, but we decided a taxi would be easier (and it was).  However, after we finished shopping, we tried for over an hour to hail a cab without success.  We walked all over looking for a hotel, but when we found one the door man didn't do any better than us, and gave up after about 15 minutes.

So, Pris took one side of a busy street, and I took the other.  She saw someone getting out of a cab, and ran over to it.  I crossed the street and got there right when some man just jumped in front of Pris and started talking to the driver, and then got in and they took off.  Pris was so mad.  She said if she ever sees that guy again she is really going to give him a piece of her mind. 

So, then we decided to walk back to the supermarket and figure out how to take the subway back to the hotel.  This ended up being pretty easy, and it is what we should have done in the first place.  By the way, the subway is very nice and clean, and it only cost us about 30 cents each.

Earlier in the day we had taken a trip to a tea house.  They told us all about the teas and basically tried to sell us on pots, cups and teas.  We saw a tea cup that we had bought the day before for 10 yuan (about $1.40) and they were trying to sell the same cup for 150 yuan.  We felt like smart shoppers, and told everyone in our group how we were really being taken.  So, we all left and not many people bought anything.  I'm not sure the store people appreciated our insight into their pricing strategies.

One thing I have not mentioned is that many people will frequently come up to us and ask where Anna was born.  When we say the Hunan Province, some will say "ah, spicy girl!"  What we have found out is that the women from Hunan have a reputation of being hot tempered and smart, which they describe as "spicy". 

Pris is not feeling well, and she is on some of the antibiotics I bought last week.   She should recover by the time we get ready to leave on Friday.

We are continuing to see some more personality out of Anna.  Today, it manifested as a temper tantrum.  She is pretty stubborn.  I am just glad she is feeling strongly about things.  For the first week, she didn't seem to care about anything.  The object of her temper tantrum was me not picking her up fast enough.  I talked sternly to her, and I think it helped somewhat. 

Tomorrow is our consulate appointment, and Thursday we take our oath for Anna's immigration to the U.S.

We are almost finished!!

Phil

Monday's big task was to complete the medical checkup.  When we figured out that the real purpose was to complete the immigration process to the U.S.  and it was not designed to really tell us anything, Anna Hope became a really healthy kid.  Seriously, they did not tell us she had any big problems (except some ear wax, but not sure how serious this really is).  

The clinic we went to was a real zoo.  I bet there were 100 people in there waiting to see a doctor, and there were probably at least 30 adopted kids.   Anna Hope had to see three different doctors, but they spent probably less than 2 minutes each with her.  She weighed 19.5 pounds, and that is just about all we got out of it (except for her ear wax malady).

After the medical checkup, we went shopping at Shaiman Island, which is a very nice, quaint area.  Everything is pretty cheap, and the store owners expect you to bargain with them.  We went into one store and the girl running it was an exceptional salesperson and spoke very good English.  At one point, I told her she was a great salesperson, and asked her if she was a capitalist.  She kind of frowned, shook her head and said she was just a good saleperson.  Guess they don't like that word over here.

We also saw some communist party soldiers doing some training.  One of them was hopping on one foot from post to post.  The posts were about three feet high, around 1 foot in diameter, and probably 5 to 6 feet apart.  Pretty impressive.

We continued to have some excellent breakthroughs with Anna Hope.  Today was the first day that she played with some toys, and it was also the first day she had some significant interaction with Priscilla.  We were at dinner tonight, and Anna Hope started acting like she was giving Priscilla some food, and then taking it away right when Pris would reach for it.  Anna would laugh, then Pris did the same thing, and Anna laughed some more.  This couldn't have come at a better time.  Pris was getting a little down about the lack of interest from Anna, and this really brightened Pris' spirits. 

We prayed for Anna Hope again this morning, and it looks like God is continuing to help us make progress in our relationships.   We are so thankful to Him.

Tomorrow is an easy day with a visit to a tea house.

Here is a picture of Anna Hope enjoying her medical checkup.

Phil

When we got up this morning (Sunday morning for us), Priscilla and I decided we really needed to pray about this situation with Anna Hope and ask God to help heal her.  When we received her, she had a little jade Budda around her neck.  We had taken it off physically, but had not really asked God to deliver and protect her from any pagan spiritual influences that had been in her life before we met her.  So, we prayed for her and as we were doing that, she stopped crying and calmed down.  We went to breakfast after that, and we saw our first smile!  So, praise God that He is continuing to show us that when we get to the end of ourselves, He is able to take over.  This was the most active day that we had seen.  She was playing with her clothes and the stroller.  She looked up at me while in the stroller and I saw a couple of more smiles.  Her crying was substanitally less than in prior days, and she in general seemed to be doing much less obsessing and more observing. 

I realize that some people will say that this is all coincidence and these breakthroughs just happened to occur on the day we committed to pray for her about this.  However, we are convinced that God allowed us to struggle for the past 6 days just so that we would see that we couldn't do it on our own.  We are going to continue to pray for her each day and trust God to continue the healing process.

We went to a folk art museum today and it was beautiful.  We saw a number of groups of people standing around kicking a birdie-like thing kind of like a hacky-sack game.  Many of them were older, and they were amazing in their dexterity and balance.

We also went to a fairly upscale shopping mall, very comparable to what you would see in the U.S.  For the richer people in China, there is no shortage of nice things to buy.  Unfortunately, many of the people are poor and can't even afford the simplest of things.

Here are a couple of pictures.  The first one is Priscilla's effort to capture a smile (the camera doesn't shoot fast enough, so it didn't come out that well).  The second one is at a Japanese restaurant tonight, and me feeding Anna Hope some Salmon. 

Tomorrow is a trip to the doctor for the medical check up.

Phil

We flew from Changsha to Guangzhou today, arriving around 3 pm at the hotel.  Yesterday in Changsha was pretty much a recovery day for me.  And I am just about 100%.  Enough Dog Tongue and other assorted delicacies.  I am sticking with pizza, peanut butter and anything else American that I can find.

Anna Hope's fever has gone away, and she is starting to relax a little.  She as had a pretty tough week.   I don't think I mentioned this, but to get to Changsha, she had to take a two hour bus ride and a 12 hour overnight train ride with her nanny.  So, she has been very off schedule and I think it has contributed to her cold and crying (not to mention grief she is feeling from leaving her family). 

Yesterday morning, I had to put her down to walk back from the buffet with some coffee, and it was the first time she held my hand and walked without crying.  I know this sounds like a small thing, but we are counting these little steps as victories.

After we arrived at the hotel, she had to have a picture taken for her Visa to the U.S. (She now has a Chinese passport, so she also needs a visa.  When she gets her feet on American soil, she will become a U.S. citizen.)  I bet they had to take a dozen pictures of her to get it right.  She is teething and she wouldn't keep her hands out of her mouth. 

Our group of seven families has now reunited with 6 other families who had gone to other provinces.  We all met tonight at the Cafe Veranda (the Western restuarant at the hotel) and I got the Alaskan Seafood buffet.  It was excellent!  I had them grill some King Salmon for me, and Anna Hope ate about half of it.  There was a group of three musicians from the Philippines playing a lot of American pop music, and they came by our table.  The played Let it Be, Sound of Silence and Blue Suede Shoes.  We all started singing with them and clapping.  I think they enjoyed it more than us! 

One family adopted an 8 year old little girl, and she is really interacting well.  I think she knows how blessed she is to be in this situation.  You would think the English would be a problem, but it isn't.  She is catching on amazingly fast.  She has been interacting some with Anna Hope.

The chores this week in Guangzhou are to visit a doctor for a checkup and obtain the visa.  After that, we leave on Friday to come home.  Yeah!!!!!!!!

Here is a picture of Anna Hope and I sleeping.  This is what we have done the most over the last couple of days!

Anna Hope is on the way to recovering and Phillip is laid up in bed today.  Needless to say,  this is not what I expected for our trip.  However, we are working though it.  Hopey has bonded to Phil first but since he is in bed all day I am able to take her out in the carrier.  She is sometimes unwilling to go, but after Phillip is out of sight, out of mind, she calms down and off we go.

Today we visited  a beautiful park that was more like a boardwalk that went for a mile or so.  It was beautiful because of the  materials used, including wood, granite, glass and different rocks used for the walkway.  The landscape was impressive and they had quite a few workers garderning this morning.  It was situated on a lake called Moon Lake and was part of of a new development of sky rise apartments that will have an amazing view of cities 20 miles away.  This is not what  I expected China to be.  Construction is going on all over the place to beautify the city everywhere you look.  I have also noticed that the young women dress very fashionably.  Again, not what I expected.

Tomorrow we have some paper work to do, and then we leave on Saturday for Ghangzou.

Priscilla

Now that we have finished our "official" business in Changsha, we are basically just killing time and waiting until we go to Ghangzhou on Saturday.  A couple of significant things happened today.

First, Anna Hope is relaxing a little and making some progress on her relationship with Priscilla.  This is an answer to our prayers.  Although she still reaches out to me when Priscilla holds her and says "de de da" (which we understand means Daddy), it is less of an urgent sound and she is giving up faster.  She also went to bed tonight without crying. 

On the negative side, I picked up whatever Anna Hope had, and I had a fever today.  I have been taking tylenol and it is controlling it.

I also went to the pharmacy and bought some antibiotics today.  You can buy them over the counter, and they are cheap.  I bought two treatments of Amoxil and two treatments of Azithromycin.  Altogether it was about $7.  Amazing.  Communisim at work for us!

The highlight of the day was a trip to a real ITALIAN restaurant for dinner tonight.  It was authentic and at a very nice Sheraton.  The chef was from Italy and he and the hotel owner came over to talk with us.  Last night we ate at a Chinese smorgasboard type restaurant, and I didn't feel too well afterwards.  We brought some packets of instant oatmeal with us, and that is now looking like a delicacy. 

I have continued to meet some interesting people traveling with us.  Among the participants:

A dad who serves as a guardian ad litem for about 45 kids.

The state trooper who took the picture that is on all the gas pumps that says something about not paying for gas and losing your license.

A song writer and publisher.

A pastor.

A university professor who teaches speaking and theater (really a funny guy).

And everyone is a Christian believer, so it is making for some very special relationships.  Really great.

So, we just continue to wait over he next few days.  I am ready to get moving!

Phil

We had a pretty restless first night with Anna Hope.  She was running a fever of 102 F., and we were able to move it down with Tylenol.  It came back up around 3 am this morning, so we moved it down again with Tylenol.  It turns out that she has tended to bond with me first, so I held her until it came back down (around 5 am) and then she went back to sleep.  She is having some grief anxiety from departing from her foster family, and really wants to be held a lot.  We have been told this is actually good, because it means that she was able to form a solid attachment to her foster family.  It will take 3-4 days to work this through.  After some coaxing, she finally went back to bed, but insisted on holding my finger until she fell asleep.   (See the photo below).

After we woke up, we went to the Adoption Center again, and met the notary who finalized all our adoption documents.  Now, just a few steps left, but I think they are all in another city.  We also had our first family photo taken!  See below.

We have really formed some good relationships with the other couples in our group.  One other couple both turned 50,  so we at least don't feel like we are the oldest people doing this!  In fact, it is interesting that many of the couples adopting are a bit older (although there are also some younger ones on their first set of kids).

Tomorrow we go to a museum and basically hang around and wait for our flight on Saturday to Guangzhou. 

By the way, we had our best meal of the trip last night.  Hamburger and french fries via room service.  Really delicious.

I ran around the hotel this morning, and found a little pedestrian mall.  I saw a group of people doing Tai Chi (I decided not to join) and a group of older couples doing ballroom dancing (this was all around 6:30 am).  The most interesting group, however, was a group of grandmas doing country line dancing.  It was a little surreal. 

 Last, here is some political commentary.  I read an editorial in the China Daily, and it was on the recent quality issues with goods made in China.  They said that in fact 85% of the quality problems had been due to inaccurate specifications from American importers, and only 15% was due to true problems with quality in China.  They also pointed out the the American government shouldn't withhold information like this from its citizens, because it really isn't fair to the Americans or to China.  Wow.

Also, I can't even access this blog in China.  Although I can upload anthing that I want, I can't see the full blog (or probably any other blog).  Yep, the American's need to quit withholding informtion.

Phil