Arrival in Guangzhou (10/14/2010)

The day started for everyone around 4:45 AM…..and it is evident as some were breaking down as they turned in tonight that it has been a long day. But considering a 2-hour flight early this morning, an immediate trip to the quarantine clinic for Mary Beth’s TB test as soon as we arrived on Sha’mian Island, check-in at the White Swan Hotel (aka Stork Hotel), 2 hours playing in the outdoor pool, then walking around the island tonight, I think the 4 kids and 3 adults did pretty well for the long day.  I am ready to turn in as well.  But I have gotten so used to journaling when everyone is in bed, it seems the best time to do this.  So for whoever happens to read it, I hope it is at least a little bit of the blessing received as much as it is for me to share our experiences.

We left Chongqing the same as we arrived – cool, wet and dark.  It was raining like crazy as we drove in the dark to the CQ Airport this morning.  All of us could not wait to see some sunshine as we pulled out of there today.  And we finally saw it – once we rose above the clouds in the airplane.  We enjoyed getting some rays through the windows while it lasted.  And…..it lasted until we dove back below the clouds again as we landed in Guangzhou.  Oh well.  We hoped to see more of it here.  But after we drove 15 minutes from the airport, it rained again.  We thought it was going to rain all afternoon, but soon realized it must be the smog and pollution covering the city.  Really???  Oh yeah, TIC….

We arrived with three other families that came in from other areas of China.  (These are three of almost 40+ families that will hit the island by Friday night from adoptions all over this vast country!!)  It was nice to see some western faces and have conversations past the normal “ni hao” and “xie xie” that we were getting used to saying.  Meeting them was kind of like meeting an old fraternity brother that we had not seen in a long time.  It was like we instantly knew something about them, even though we had never met before.  There was a common kinship between all these families that geography and cultural differences could not divide.  Each of us wanted to offer the best we could to a child that was abandoned by someone that was supposed to love them and promise to give them the life they deserved.  (Gee……sound like something written before and someone we know that has done this over and over for all of us???)   We were actually the rookies among this small group, as this was our first adoption.  One family from outside of Philadelphia had already adopted two handsome boys around 6-8 years old from Eastern European countries, and they were adopting a little 5 year old girl from near Guangzhou.  This was pretty encouraging to me and Jenn.

We were running late and had to go straight to the clinic for the TB test for Mary Beth and her new friends.  That was an experience for us.  Small clinic…..but one that resembled our local clinic around the flu season.  The rest of us hung out outside with all the siblings while the brave moms took their daughters in for the test.  We were told on the way that it was a swab test on the left arm (right arm for our little girl), but found out that it was actually a shot.  So lots of tears came out of the clinic from a number of little girls as they left.  We think that on Saturday, Mary Beth has potentially 4 more shots before we leave.  Yuck…  GDaddy and the kids may all hang back at the Swan on that day.

After an afternoon of playing in the outdoor pool – which was very refreshing for mid-October – we went to a local island favorite for the Americans – Lucy’s Café.  They had lots of American dishes that draw the families to this place.  Our kids ordered the usual American food.  But we were not sure what Mary Beth would eat, or even needed to eat.  So we ordered a plate of steamed rice and stir fry

vegetables, hoping she would eat some of it, before scarfing down the boys’ French fries.  We were elated when she kept climbing over the table for more broccoli and cauliflower to eat!  Finally!!!!  There is someone that will enjoy this food with mom and dad now….that is, until she is totally westernized and done with veggies.  Hopefully we can keep her geared this direction for as long as possible.

Have I explained how much these folks eat in China?  They can flat put down the food over here.  We have enjoyed our breakfasts here since we have arrived.  (White Swan is supposed to be the bomb when it comes to breakfasts, and we are all geared up for tomorrow!)  But after breakfast, Jenn, GDaddy and I have been pretty much done with meals for the day.  But we continue to see the Chinese people pile food on their plates, and they give us so much food when we order that we cannot finish it all.  It amazes us to watch them eat 3-4 meals per day (with the last one being “tea”), but continue to still stay so skinny!  We have actually found that we feel like we are eating healthy and enough food, but our pants are fitting looser each day.  (Maybe there is something to the old China Diet programs…..)  All considered, we love this food, as long as it does not get too crazy of what is put on our plates.  

To the good stuff now…..  We love “opening the package” of Mary Beth each day to see what surprise we get.  She is like everyone else in my family when they wake up – or are woken up too early – and they are not in the best mood at the beginning.  But Mary Beth’s attitude seems to rock along, and she gets more and more used to us each day…..even after being woken up at 0500 in the morning.  Today, she had a little bit of everyone that she loved on.  On the plane, GDaddy sat behind her, and pretty much everyone on the 4-5 rows on each side of her knew that his name was GDaddy, as she kept saying it over and over – and louder and louder – throughout the flight.  You know he absolutely hated that…..yeah, right.  As you can see from some of the pictures, she is playing with all of us and getting to know us in different ways each day.  Devin has really come along on this trip and is getting back to being a protective, fun big brother again.  That is what we hoped from him.  Mary Beth actually went to bed crying tonight because she wanted to stay cuddled up with Luke and sleep with him tonight.  He has such a huge heart and loves her completely.  Lauren has the roughest position in the group, and I tried to explain it to her this afternoon.  She has immediately gone from the position of little sister to big sister….and sometimes does not realize what hit her.  But she has prayed for this so long, we have tried to help her learn that this bond with Mary Beth will come over time, and it will increase once we get home.  And of course, Mary Beth has already realized that Jenn is the rock and the one to run to when she needs anything.  I love seeing that she has really caught on with her, especially with her complete world being rocked the past year.  I look forward to seeing that relationship grow and her learning what it means to be a respected young lady from her mom.

Tomorrow is a free day for us, and we are not sure what the day will bring for us.  But we will enjoy being together and look forward to meeting lots of other new friends as they arrive at the hotel throughout the day.  I will try to forward more pictures of these little blessings as we progress through the next few days.

One last picture that I sent to Dwight that I had to pass on to you.  I do not know what China’s overall unemployment rate is now.  Sophie told us that CQ’s unemployment rate is 2.9%, and we could see evidence of that when we walked around.  Stores would have gobs of attendants working in the same areas.  But we also know that there are jobs that many would not normally take.  The picture that I sent was taken from our hotel room on the 10th floor at the White Swan.  This worker was directly across the street from us, on the ledge of the building, doing some maintenance work.  It is obvious that he does not have any safety equipment on to keep him from falling, nor anyone there to help him just in case he gets into trouble.  I guess with brave hearts taking jobs like this, it is easy to see why the unemployment rate is fairly low.

Continue to intercede for peaceful family relations as we progress into the next week in Guangzhou for us.  Lots of direct time with one another for long periods of time.   You know what I mean…..

Love all of you!