Shamian island park

Absolutely beautiful park street through the middle of Samian island along the Pearl river.  Former trade center for British and French merchants.

Chinese medicine street market - dried everything

Alvin and the chipmunks for sale at the pet street market

Guangzhou shopping - crystal store

Video calls

We've really enjoyed keeping in touch over video conference calls with our kids, almost everyday.  Today we prayed together over the video call before they went to bed and we had pizza delivered for lunch!

US consulate

Yeah!  We took the oath on behalf of Charlotte and finished the paperwork at the US consulate today!  The lady over the adoption process didn't know Marc, but we asked and talked with her for a while.

Koi fish in the hotel pond

Travel group kids

7 from Henan.  Charlotte wouldn't sit down!

Famous red couch picture in the White Swan lobby

Emily and Charlotte

Emily and Charlotte were room mates at Maria's big house and are both from the Anyang orphanage.  We were the only ones in our group to be from the same orphanage, which is really awesome.  Notice Emily's hand on Charlotte's knee.  Emily will be growing up where she'll get a great southern accent :)  Y'all keep in touch!

Found

Charlotte was found just a few days after she was born at the gate of the old cultural center in Linzhou, just outside of Anyang.  The police took her to the Anyang orphanage.  We'll never know why her parents couldn't keep her.  Maybe it was the best that her birth parents could do with a daughter with cleft lip and palate.  Maybe they couldn't afford the treatments and thought someone else might be able to help.  I'm glad we get a chance to be her forever parents.  Isn't her smile now beautiful?

Hotel waterfall

She didn't like the weight check

Medical check

Dinner at Lucy's by the White Swan hotel

White Swan hotel

Now we're in Guangzhou city on Saiman island by the Pearl river.

Comfort method picture

Comfort

Charlotte has the funniest comfort method.  Putting her lips to her sleeve.  It doesn't matter if it's long, short (more difficult), or actually someone elses.

Guangzhou

Yeah!  We're on the last stage of our journey.  We flew Tuesday from Zhengzhou to Guangzhou and are staying at the White Swan hotel which caters to adoptive families.  It is really pretty.  I like firm mattresses, but these hotels take it to a new level.  We were told, the nicer the hotel, the harder the beds.  Next time I'll need to bring my camping air matress!   Consulate appointment tomorrow.  We'll post more pictures then.

Shaolin Monk blackberring... or maybe texting

Pagoda forest graveyard for Kung Fu masters

Kung Fu Capital

We can't find the Henan museum photos, so we'll need to get them from some others in our group.  We went to the Buddhist temple where Kung Fu started, Shaolin in Henan with a few families from our group.  The best part was the Kung Fu show by the Kung Fu students.  We saw thousands practicing as we drove and walked in the city.  The show had over 100 kids.  Probably started at age 8 on up to maybe 18.  Great tricks, coordination, strength, and composition.  They accept kids in the boarding school as young as 3.  It was really hot.  Though Charlotte was good most of the time, she did have a breakdown a few times and only wanted her mom.    A lot of people would take really long stares at us... I mean really really long.  Wonder what we were doing.  Try to talk to us.  Sometimes take pictures of us.  Awkward.

Easter chocolate display in the hotel lobby

I think our kids could eat all of these.  Heard they finished their Easter candy quick!

Easter

There is one Christian church in Zhengzhou and our rep, Yisha, didn't know where it was.  We had our own Easter devotional by reading the New Testament, trying to teach Charlott how to say "amen", watching a video about Christ on our Church web site (www.lds.org), and listening to President Monson testify of Christ.  We also joined the other families to tour the Henan provincial museum of history.  It was facinating.  Charlotte's home area of Anyang was an ancient capital of China during the Shang dynasty about 3,600 years ago and was the location of the oldest Chinese characters ever found.  So, it probably was the starting location for writing in China (on turtle shells and "oracle" bones).

Outside Maria's big house of hope

I believe the staff and sponsors of Maria's Big House of Hope literally saved Charlotte's life.  They enabled her to develop during a critical time in her life, showed her love, and prepared her to be adopted by us.  The same doctor that did her cleft surgery is coming back in May to do 12+ others.  Her lip cleft was large, probably more than half of her lip.  We are so thankfull!

Big belly full

Waving good-bye to Charlotte

All the 2nd floor nannies and kids waved good-bye out the windows and on the porch to Charlotte as we walked out of the door to the car.  We could tell how much they really cared and were happy for her.

Her crib

Laughing with freinds from her room

With Nannies and friends

Floor 2

Charlotte spent most of her time on floor 2 with 2 nurses from the Philipines, Lilly and Jonna.

Nanny - seemed to be Charlotte's fav

Maria's Big House of Hope - Charlotte's home for 14 months

I've heard that God listens to our prayers but it is usually through another person that He answers them.  The answer to our prayers and the prayers for the many many orphaned children were answered at Maria's Big House of Hope, a special needs medical center for orphans in Luoyang. The Chinese government calls it a "foster home" but it's really a special care orphanage.  Charlotte lived there from 2 1/2 months old until a couple weeks before we adopted her (about 14 months total).  We assume her first couple of months were at the Anyang orphanage.  We know her last 2 weeks were at the Anyang orphanage to finalize the paperwork.  The nannies and nurses were so happy to see her when we visited on Saturday.  We'll need to write a lot more words to capture the experience of visiting, but I wanted to put up a few pictures.  http://www.showhope.org/OrphanCare/SpecialCareCenters.aspx

Park - what's here sign

Zijingshan Park in Zhengzhou

We walked to the park this morning.  It is located where Ao city stood, the capital of the Shang dynasty over 3,600 years ago.  It was great weather and a lot of people.  Fishermen, kid parties, traditional fiddle players, horn player, roller skaters in business suits, etc.

It's official

With a signature and a finger print stamp, it's official, as of yesterday, Charlotte is our new daughter.  I liked that the government officials took pictures together with us with their cameras.  Yesterday the orphanage people took pictures with their cameras too.  Charlotte has some nasty snot and a cough, so we started giving her the anti-biotics that we brought.  As the saying goes... better safe than sorry... The alternative is to get the traditional Chinese herbal medicine delivered to the hotel.  According to our neighbors it is black, thick, smells bad, and tastes bad.  Maybe it would help, but I think we'll go the modern route for now.

First nap in mama's arms

Eating at the Henan registration office

She was crying and hungry!

We finally met our Charlotte!!

After waiting for soooo long! The moment arrived.  All the babies kept coming into the building except for the Anyang babies and one other little girl that would meet her new mom and dad at the hotel.  We all were taking pictures of all the kids when Charlotte and her little friend came.  Charlotte's nanny wanted to quickly change her diaper so she did, way fast.  Then they handed her to her mommy when she didn't want to come! I took her and kissed her and she was crying like crazy!  Understandable for sure!  After a few min, of trying to console her the nanny came and helped us understand that she hadn't eaten yet and was really hungry. She showed Charlotte that the food we had for her was good. She loved it...she wouldn't let it out of her sight or hands after that.  We feed her some Gerber sweet potato puffs.  She stopped crying.  She loves for her dad to hold her! We came back to the hotel with her chowing on her sweet potato puffs and she had a bath and a bottle and feel asleep. She is sleeping right now.  While she was crying when we first met her we noticed that her palate was repaired!  We didn't know that!  We asked about it and found out that she had actually been living not in the orphanage but in a special hospital for babies that need surgeries and such.  It is called Show Hope, in Louyang.  She had only been in the orphanage for a couple of weeks (when we got our travel approval).  She has lots of mosquito bites all over her face.  She looks really healthy though, she has dimples on the knuckles of her hands, and her cheeks are round. She feels like she weighs as much as her sister! She loves her books so far and the teddy bear we brought as well as touched the doll that one of her Grandma made for her.  Here is a picture with Charlotte and some Anyang orphanage workers (not sure of their roles).  The one in the middle helps us calm down Charlotte so it seemed like she had taken care of her before. She is adorable and we are so happy that she is ours! I will post some more pics!

Beijing Acrobats - spinning on one hand on about 8 chairs!

The brain comment made me worried

Middle of hiking - we hiked to the top - 1 of the 7 wonders of the world

Top of a tower on the Great Wall

Jade Factory

Forbidden City gardens

Sun - Mon - Tuesday

We haven't had much of a chance to update lately...sorry! I think jet lag has come over us at around 6pm and it is hard to do much after that!   4/16 Sunday It was a spiritual experience today learning about the key areas in China's history and thinking as we watched all the thousands of people at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, "I wonder what Charlotet (our new daughter) looks like now? I wonder what she will look like when she is as old as that person walking by?" We gained a renewed respect of the history, culture and people of China and heard some amazing adoption decision stories our Henan adoption group. At the end of the Forbidden City tour we were held up for ½ hour while waiting for some "big potatoes" (foreign dignitaries) to visit (the exit was blocked). In the newspaper it said that the Ukrainian prime minister was visiting, so I assume it was him. So, we were a little late and a lot tired getting back to the hotel. That evening we wondered over to the mall connected to the hotel to get some dinner. We ate at a Taiwanese restaurant, which tasted like unique Chinese food. And then went to bed early! 4/17 Monday Talked to the kids this morning. A huge thanks goes out to G-ma and G-pa for watching the kids. Our kids are helping out a lot too. You're all awesome! Great that they are doing well. It was fun to see they're smiling faces, hear them talk and laugh. We miss them "big time." I thought that we would be going to the same Great Wall location where I went before with the school study abroad – with a chair lift and alpine slide down. So, I ran on the treadmill and lifted leg weights for 40 minutes starting in the morning. After a hearty breakfast (buffet of American and Chinese breakfast food), we got on the tour bus and headed out side of Beijing. On the way we stopped at a jade factory and shop. Absolutely beautiful and talented carvings, jewelry, etc. We purchased some souvenirs. Well, it turns out that this part of the Great Wall included hiking up very steep stairs for an hour. :0 There are a few different tourist spots to visit the Great Wall near Beijing. Stiff legs still! The stunning views were worth it. On the way back from the Great Wall we stopped at a restaurant/store and the 2008 olympic area (Birds nest national stadium, water cube, dragon skyscraper buildings, and other sports arenas. Last stop was a Chinese acrobat show - absolutely amazing. 4/18 Flew to Zhengzhou, Henan. Heard more about Charlotte!! She's doing well and we'll get her tomorrow at 10am! Way way exciting!

We are here!

We made it and I figured out with some new friends how to send posts using my email!  Exciting! The flight was really long, we got to Beijing at around 11:30 and got to our hotel room at like 1am. We slept and feel pretty good today.  We started off this morning with a great breakfast. The hotel here has an amazing variety of food. Even watermelon juice!  Our group here has 7 families from all over the USA all adopting from the Henan Provence here in China.  It is fun to meet them and find out more about them and why they choose to adopt. We met and were off to the old part of Beijing. (800 year old neighborhood) and rode rickshaws around the area.  A kind Chinese lady let us all tour her house that is over 150 years old. She grew up here and lives in that old part of town. Her house has the court in the middle of it and different rooms all around.  Each person has an appointed place where they are to have their rooms.  They had a small garden in the middle with pigeons and fish! Her husband is a retired physics teacher and now paints calligraphy.  Her daughter and son-in-law live there with a grandson also.  It was really nice of her to let us in.  Our rep said that this is the first year that someone allowed us to tour their house!   Next we went to the Silk factory.  I had seen a video about the silk road and how silk was made, but to see it in real life was cool.  The silk worms are cultivated and when they cocoon themselves about 20 something days after they were eggs. They take them and boil them and then just pull on it. The silk comes off as a string.  They combine like 5 together to make the silk stronger and then make all kinds of stuff out of it.  We saw rugs, clothes, purses, pictures, etc. Lots!  If the cocoon is a double one, the silk strands are too jumbled up and they are stretched out to make the inside of blankets instead if the cotton filling or down.  A comforter blanket.  It is supposed to be easy to clean and very nice in the summer and winter.    Next we went to lunch at a Chinese place our guide (Sticky chopsticks) had previously picked out for us to go too.  He ordered already too!  The food was pretty good!  I liked the peppered steak and the chicken. I am not sure what was on the chicken.  Derek tried the duck and all the other stuff that looked a little weird. He liked almost everything as well. At lunch we chatted more about adopting and heard from those that have been through adopting before their stories.  I love to hear about them! I am going to try to post a picture with this. Hope it works!   I'll finish more later, We are really hungry!

test post

I am trying to figure out the blog thing here. I can't post here in china.

Travel schedule

Here is the exciting travel schedule. We're so excited to meet Charlotte and the other parents adopting from Henan in our group!

4/15 Leaving on a jet plane

4/16 Stop in Tokyo, eat Japanese food, arrive in Beijing at 11:40pm (whew)

4/17 Tour Beijing, get to know other parents, get used to the time zone to be prepared for our new daughter, take in some Chinese culture. (Derek has been to Beijing before, but not Nat)

4/18 Tour Beijing

4/19 Fly to Zhengzhou, Henan (province capital)

4/20 Get Charlotte! Yeah!

4/21 More paperwork, get to know Charlotte

4/22-25 Free time, rest, optional tours, maybe visit Anyang orphanage or Show Hope special care center, paperwork, Easter worship and celebration

4/26 Paperwork and fly to Guangzhou

4/27 Charlotte's physical exam, visa picture, paperwork

4/28 Consulate appointment, paperwork

4/29 paperwork, evening flight to Hong Kong, stay overnight in Hong Kong Regal airport hotel

4/30 Fly from Hong Kong direct to Detroit, transfer planes, then back home!

Travel Conference Call and Final plans

We're leaving April 15th! Finally! Today was the travel conference call. Some people seemed worried about the fed gov shutdown, but we're moving forward with faith!

Travel Approval!

HI!
Today we got our Travel Approval! We have two possible days of travel to China to pick up Charlotte!
It only took 1 week!
April 15-30 (that's next friday!)
or April 20-May 3 or 4th!
We are totally excited!
We have to wait to hear from the Consulate to find the date that is set for sure!
Yeah!!!

Charlotte

We decided to name her Charlotte Chunyi. Our latest picture of Charlotte is from January 2011. We’re so happy that she looks healthy!

The latest step was our Article 5 approval on March 22 and then it was on its way to the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA – China’s centralized government agency overseeing international adoption). CCAA usually takes 2 -4 weeks to approve travel, after which we’ll be on our way in 1 -2 weeks. I’m hoping for a April 14th or April 21st departure date!

We wanted to start this blog after reading about others’ adoption journey on the Henan Kids International web site. We were inspired, encouraged, and enlightened by others’ blogs… feeling like we traveled with you to Henan. You’re invited to read along as we go.

Chun Yi An

In the spring of 2010, I changed companies and we moved. After fasting and praying, talking together on our summer couple trip, we started researching adoption again, with a focus on special needs adoption. We felt “the fear of the unknown” about special needs adoption, and continued to feel better as we researched more.

In August we started the process for the waiting child program, in October completed our home study, and on December 1, 2010 which happened to be her birthday, we were matched with Chun Yi (meaning “Spring Idea” or “Spring is in the Air”) An (from “Anyang City”). Our second daughter! Yeah! She has cleft lip (repaired by Operation Smile surgeon from the US) and cleft palate. She is one year old and is at the Anyang City orphanage in Henan, China. We were ready to go pick her up the day that we were matched. Unfortunately, we needed to jump through all the paperwork hoops as our approval was expired and we were now under the newer Hague convention international adoption law.

Our first picture was of her at 7 months after having surgery at a Show Hope special care center (where she lived from 2 months to 8 months old). Show Hope is a wonderful charity started by a Christian musician. http://www.showhope.org/

Decision

As a kid, Nat said that she would like to adopt if she only had boys. On a study abroad to Asia, I met the CFO of Apple Asia in Singapore and learned about his charity work in Asia and his families’ decision to adopt a girl from Southeast Asia. This was our first serious discussion about adoption.

When we struggled again to have children after our second son, we thought and prayed seriously about adoption. When I was talking with one of our church leaders (stake president) about his four sons, I mentioned that my wife would want to adopt a girl if we had four sons. Through much prayer and pondering, we started researching adoption. We had many examples in our local congregation of adoption, domestic and international. I had visited China during the study abroad, for business, and had taught some Chinese people the Gospel while serving as a missionary in Japan in the early 90’s. Nat kept seeing and talking to a mom and her adopted Chinese girl (Lucy)– at the store, swimming lessons, library, etc. We invited their family over and they shared they’re experience and videos of adopting from China. She kept meeting others who had or where in the process of adopting also. Good friends of ours adopted a son from the Ukraine, and were in the process of adopting 2 boys from Russia. We met a family down the street with our same last name that was adopting from China (with two boys). We received our answer to prayer many, many times that we should adopt – in small ways, line upon line.

We tried to adopt through our church social services but were told that we probably wouldn’t be chosen because we already had two kids. We tried foster to adopt, but even with repeated calls, our contact wouldn’t ever call us back. We met one agency and research many different countries and agencies. We decided on China because we would be guaranteed a girl, the process seemed well organized, and we loved the Asian culture. The Lord was patient getting through to us.

We started the paperwork to adopt from China June 2007 and completed all the paperwork and got on the list to adopt in November 2007. Only then did we find out that adoptions for healthy children in China had slowed to very small few and we’d have no hope in adopting soon. We became discouraged and couldn’t make up our minds if we should adopt a child with special needs. Nat was mentioning this discouragement to a friend and talking about the traditional adoption and the special needs adoption, she told her that maybe the reason why we kept thinking about special needs adoption was because that was our answer to our prayer about what to do. Lots of times our prayers are answered through someone else!

We focused on having our own children. In November 2008, we were blessed with our third birth child, a girl! She was born eight weeks early and spent her first three weeks in the hospital. Nat had a difficult pregnancy. It was hard to bring her into the world. When we found out that she was a girl, we were so excited that the girl we were adopting would have a sister! We still had good feelings about adoption, but discouragement with the slow progress in China. So, we let our adoption approval paperwork expire, thinking that we’d have plenty of time to reapply later.