Things have been up and down the last few days.  There are moments of excitement like jada learning to walk (she could barely stand on her own 5 days ago).  She will walk in small distances now like from Luke to me a few feet away.  We have some sweet moments too of rocking her and singing to her where she seems to connect with me on a deeper level.  She loves the outdoors which makes it very easy for us to walk around the city.  Above is a short video of us walking through Guangzhou so you can see the town.  Sam's (our exchange student last year) dad's driver and assistant came to take us to a very nice park area last night.  It was just beautiful.  As it got darker they turned on the lanterns in the trees, it was so pretty.  They took us to a nice restaurant too and it was just so very nice of them to go out of their way to show us their city and treat us to dinner.  Today Sam's cousin is taking us to an amusement park.  The kids are so excited!  Here are some pics of the park and also of Jadas medical appointment.

Today was the day I visited the orphanage.  Jalyn ended up coming with me.  She wasn't sure she wanted to go but I really wanted her to be able to see the orphanage, to have her company  on the long trip and also to allow the boys some bonding time with Jada.  It was close to a 3 hour trip each way.  I was able to speak quite openly about my faith with my guide who came along.  I was surprised to hear from her that Christianity is becoming popular in China and especially in the countryside.  She pointed out a few beautiful Christian churches along our way.  She is studying at the university and even said they studied parts of the Bible .  She talked for quite awhile asking questions about The American life and if it is how it is portrayed in the movies.  She really would love to come to America and I told her we have had several people stay with us, that we have room for guests.  I think I was mostly surprised about how she talked of Christianity in China.  What happened to all of the persecution of Christians I have always heard about here?  She seemed to be completely unaware of that.  This makes me wonder how much their government may screen  and hide a lot if what is happening .  I remember Sam telling us about that, just the way the government controls the media and what is allowed to be shared .  At the same time, it was so neat to hear her talk about the popularity of Christianity and it's growth here!

I was unsure how I was going to respond to being at the orphanage.  The building was 2 stories high and in the shape of a "U" with a courtyard in the middle.  By courtyard I mean a rectangular slab of concrete .  I had imagined there would be a playground of some sort outside, but there was nothing.  It almost looked like an old motel from the outside with 2 levels.  Each doorway into the various rooms was just some cloth hanging like a curtain (no actual door).  They first took me to Jadas room where she spent her first 6 months of life and then the last month.  I took a lot of the pictures with my camera and forgot to take some with my phone so I could post pics on here.  I felt very pressured and under watch the whole time, I didn't feel free to just wander or anything.  That made me a little nervous and I forgot to take the pics with my phone.  Anyways, Jadas room was somewhat small with about  10 or so cribs in the room.  The director showed me Jadas empty crib (her neighbors crib was empty too.....he was just adopted also and I talked about that family in a precious post).  This was obviously the room for babies probably up to about 2.  There was a sweet jaundiced newborn baby girl who was abandoned on December 1.  The orphanage director gave me a large teddy bear that she said was Jadas favorite for us to keep.  I'm still unsure what I will do with it.....I don't want jada to freak out if she sees the bear, on the other hand she may love to have something familiar with her.  For now, I feel like I need to somehow sanitize this bear since I know for sure the scabies problem among others in the orphanage.  There were 3 nannies that were assigned to that room.  There wasn't much of anything else in the room except 2 little walker seats on wheels.  I imagine the children hardly leave this room and it makes me wonder if that is why Jada absolutely LOVES being outside.  There are two things we KNOW she isn't split personality on and it's bring outside and taking a warm bath!  I was able to see into 3 other rooms with children of various older ages.  They had them all seated around rectangular tables.  I wondered if this was normal or if they were tying to get the kids to look settled as a visitor was coming.  I was told by my friend who adopted Jadas crib neighbor NOT to take treats to the orphanage.  Sounds like maybe they were mobbed and not in a good way.  The smell throughout the orphanage (even with open rooms to the outside) was overpowering.  I think I mostly just felt like these kids have nothing to do.  They are in these small rooms jammed with other kids and I just wonder what they spend their days doing.  Most of the children at this orphanage did have some kind of special need...some were obvious, others were not.  As we were backing away from the orphanage I realized I hadn't taken pics to post on here with my phone, so I have the following pathetic pictures of the outside orphanage (from the inside of our van). The last few pics are of jalyn and I enjoying lunch (chopsticks only!) on the way home.  I am feeling very emotionally drained and it's hard for me to even write out what I'm feeling today.  Maybe I'll do better tomorrow.

Today was a rough day for me.  I have only been getting about 4 hours of sleep for the past 5 nights so I think every little problem seemed exaggerated.  Jada in a sense seems to have taken a step backwards.  She was very fussy today and barely would let me out of her sight.  Poor girl has been itching nonstop every square inch of her body from her scabies.  We treated her the very first night and you are supposed to wait a full week to re-apply the cream if indeed she is still itching.  The minute  I feel like I'm starting to get to know her, she almost switches personalities.  Even with simple things like food she will like something one day and then refuse it the next.  She doesn't eat much or drink much of anything.  Her nanny told me she takes 3 bottles a day but she won't have anything to do with it ( tried Chinese milk and formula ).  She had been loving Jalyn especially and now today she wouldn't go to her at all.  The boys want to also feed her treats and play with her or even simply hold her hand but she pushes them away.  Many of the ways she is acting out would never fly with my other kids but I know there is so much more going on than just discipline issues.  I am praying for wisdom in how to love her and to help her through her grieving of another loss in her life.  Today after Jake tried to give her yet another treat  (which was pushed away), he said "mom, she's never going to like us, right?"  It is so tough to see him hurt after he has been so excited to be a big  brother for so long.  Tomorrow I will get to visit the orphanage which is a 2-3 hour drive each way (they brought Jada to us, we never saw the orphanage yet).  I am going alone.  I know it would be cruel to take Jada back there, so Luke is staying behind with the kids.  I will also visit the spot where Jada was abandoned.  Above is a video of Jada in one if her happier moments from yesterday.  I like how she actually smiles when Jalyn asks her to (not knowing English).....

What a day!!!!  We got Jada today around noon!!!  We were all so excited we went down to the lobby around 10:45 in case they came early.  We waited for about an hour (seemed so much longer!!) and finally we saw a little girl all bundled up arriving.  We knew it was Jada!!!!  She looked a lot smaller than I had gathered from the pictures.  She came to me right away and it was smooth sailing for about 2 minutes!! From then on she cried (screamed) and cried, poor little girl.  We had learned she was taken back to the orphanage about a month ago from her foster home.  On a positive note, she was screaming because she wanted to go to her nanny which is a good sign that she will be able to form an attachment even though she has been moved around several times already (first in orphanage then foster home for a year then back again).  I found it tough to do this all in the lobby while so many people were watching everything.  Jada was really crying hard and the nanny wanted to take her back.  I knew if I could just get Jada up into our room that it would be easier for her.  So, it was a tough hour or so.  Once we finally were able to get up in our room, Jada stopped crying almost immediately.  She definitely seemed very sad the rest of the afternoon.  She did smile twice when Jalyn was holding her.  We had to go to the Civil Affairs Office in the afternoon to complete paperwork.  I thought this would be an hour or two appointment, but ended up being about 4 1/2 hours with having to go to the notary also........a very long day for the kids especially with still getting accustomed to the time change.  We had some trouble with communicating with our guide and driver today which made things rough throughout the day.  Once back to the hotel room after our appointments Jada came to life and started interacting with us a lot more.  Turns out she loves French fries and Coke!!  Here is the video.......having a hard time uploading pictures, etc.

The Great Wall

Saturday night was a bit rough in regards to sleep.  We all crashed at 7:30 pm.  I was up again at 11 pm.  The kids got up around 4 am.  Thankfully once we showered and ate at the breakfast buffet, we felt refreshed and ready for the day.  There are some interesting breakfast options here including sushi, fried rice, seafood dumplings , and many items i didn't recognize.  We found some more traditional American food though too and the kids were happy.  Today was absolutely perfect weather to go and see the Great Wall.  Temps were in the 50s and sunny. It was perfect for having to climb thousands of steps without being too cold or too hot.  Even with our lack of sleep the kids amazed me. Jake especially seem to have a lot of energy and he was to the top first. A lot of the steps were very steep and in different heights so the climbing at parts was a little more difficult especially for Jake with his shorter legs.  Of course I was freaking out because Jake was teetering off the side of some of the railings overlooking deep drop offs.  And then there's  Luke who thought it was great to see him be adventurous.  People left and right were tsaking the kids pictures.  I was surprised by this, I just figure they must see a lot of tourists in the Beijing area. For the most part the kids didn't really seem to mind.  We do seem to get a lot of stares.  By that I mean someone steadily watching you eat an entire meal.  Some of these types of things I have to remind mysel is solely cultural differences.  A lot of things I would consider somewhat rude back home seem to be commonplace here.  But, back to the Great Wall...,, it really was extraordinary.  We all loved it and may even try to go again once we have jada.  I have to say I was surprised at my lack of physical stamina!  Doesn't running 2 marathons last year mean anything?? Lol.  Apparently not.  I was outdone by my 5 year old.
At the beginning of this day I knew I needed to ask God for his strength to get me through such a busy day on virtually a few hours of sleep over the past 2 nights.  I am so thankful that he did just that.  I've seen God on so many occasions thus far.  Can I just say my husband has been my hero.  He has served each of us selflessly this entire trip so far.  That alone shows me daily Christis love for us. He is my rock but only in the sense that I see Christ in him daily.  Love you babe.
Tomorrow we get jada!!!  We took the high speed train from Beijing to shijiazhuang this evening.  Our two guides Bob and Eliza picked us up from the train station. Elyza is a student here and she's just helping out with the translating and to work on her English skills.  She said she was excited to do this and she's just very interested in those coming to adopt and so we talked quite a bit on the way to the hotel and she seems to be very nice.  This hotel is Amazing!!!  We have beautiful connecting rooms, the bathrooms are gorgeous and the beds are super comfy!  They wheeled in a crib for us which made everything all the more real .  It is Monday morning now and jalyn and I are up And getting giddy knowing a few short hours til they bring Jada to the lobby downstairs !  Here are some pics and a video. from Jalyn.
       

It's 2 am and I have been awake since 11 pm.  We arrived in Beijing 3:40 Saturday afternoon local time.  The kids did quite well on the plane, they just didn't sleep much.   We all crashed in our room around 7:30 pm after our 14 hour flight from Chicago.  I feel bad because I was impatient with everyone last night.  It is crazy how missing one night of sleep almost strips you of any filters.  I I think it began for me at the airport where you need to push, trip, and shove people in order to get anywhere.  Waiting "in a line" is just torture.  Since we weren't going to be "those people", we had quite the wait simply for an elevator.  Anyhow, I really am ok, just exhausted and I know tomorrow is a big day.  We go to the Great Wall which is about a 2 hour trip from here.  We leave for jadas province around 6 pm via express train.  We still don't know if we will get her tomorrow night or Monday morning.  I received an email from a girl who I had been in contact with via an adoption website.  We had connected because we realized our kids were in the same orphanage/city.  Anyways, she just emailed me and said that they had seen jada when they picked up their son .....they were crib neighbors!!!!  She said they enjoyed "talking" to one another and that jada had sweet eyes.  She warned me that her son was covered in scabies (chinese referred to them as "mosquito bites". ). So she wanted me to be prepared. Thankfully I received her email the night before we left and got some medication to bring for her.  So, tomorrow may be the big day!!!  I feel almost like I need more time to adjust to the culture, food , sleep hours, etc.  but we won't have time for that.  Well, I should try to get more rest.  Our room is cranking out 90 degree temps despite it being set at the coolest setting.  I had pictured myself chilly here, not sweating bullets!  Next time I write we should have jada in our arms!!!!  Goodnight!!

$100 Bill, Ya'll

 

 

Someone slipped this into my hand yesterday for our adoption, telling me this was her "Black Friday." She got away before I even realized she had given me money. I had so many thoughts running through my head as I opened up my hand and realized she had left me $100 bill. To me, this is just a picture of how God uses anyone who is willing to be a part of His Big Story. This lady who gave up something like shopping on Black Friday now has an eternal reward waiting for her. Not only that, she is a part of God's Story and Jada's story. This $100 represents so much more than it's monetary value, which is the reason this $100 bill brought me to tears. You see, God doesn't NEED our money. He can give money to anyone he chooses to give it to. But God wants each of our hearts to be in step with Him, and in His grace wants/allows us to be part of His Great Story. Of course it is a blessing to be on the receiving end of this, but so much greater the reward for the person who gave up something like Black Friday shopping. Blessings on you, my friend!!