Slow Day in Guangzhou (10/15/2010)

Today was our first day of rest since we left the states last week.  Not every day has been a full day since we arrived.  But we have had something scheduled or gone into town every day.  So this was a welcome day for us, as we hung out around the hotel all day, barely leaving the room.  That has its advantages and disadvantages, especially when you have four children camped in two rooms for that long.  (Remember that request for intercession yesterday???  Yeah, it is REALLY needed about now.)

The day started early in our room, as Mary Beth woke up early and was fussing.  She fussed going to bed last night, then woke up seeing me next to her this morning, and I do not think she was crazy about that.  Lauren did not want to stay with her, as they have both battled under the covers by trying to out-kick each other the prior two nights.  So that was the only spot open when I got to bed last night.  Luckily, she got up, went to the bed with Lauren and Jenn and slept two more hours.  (They looked like sardines in this little twin-plus bed as they slept.  Those that have been over here are smiling as they know what I am talking about….)

We finally made it to the highlight of the day later in the morning – breakfast at the Swan!  It was everything it was claimed to be, and the kids enjoyed every morsel of sweets and bacon when I was not looking that they could.  Mary Beth of course gobbled up all the watermelon, bananas, boiled eggs and yogurt that we put in front of her, staying away from most of the western delicacies.  (Not sure how long that will last in our house the next few weeks.)

We played in the playroom with some new families later that were from all over the world.  Some were speaking languages that were obviously not from the states.  The other two families had migrated to California and New York from England and Ireland respectively – and were both on their 2nd adoption as well.  It is like catching a fever that you cannot get rid of it seems.  (We will see how that fever holds with us over the next couple of years!  Our moms are reading this and scratching their heads right now, I am sure…..)

Mary Beth gets her official adoptive Barbie mom doll

Mary Beth and I had our first “father-daughter confrontation” today, and I think both of us lost our battles.  She loves to write, and she writes some Chinese characters very well.  So once she gets a pen or pencil in her hand, she takes off and writes on whatever is in front of her.  Unfortunately, she did not need to be writing on Lauren’s homework that Lauren has so diligently worked on daily this past week.  So as I took the pen and paper away from her, she was not pleased with me. I took her in my arms to console and explain to her that this was not proper, and I got nowhere with her.  I finally gave in and took her to Jenn in the next room.  Within seconds she stopped crying, and within five minutes she was totally out and asleep on the bed.  Hopefully I just caught her at the wrong sleepy time, and that was the reason for the outburst.  But having been down this road for 12 years and three children already, it will not be the last time it happens.  I just hate that she has known me for 3 days and there is a huge barrier between us still that will take time.  Love takes time.  (Isn’t there an 80’s song that most of us remember by that same name????  I think I actually sung it to myself as I typed it……and no one will admit singing it to themselves when they read it, right??)  As I thought earlier, this officially makes me Mary Beth’s dad and the beginning of a wonderful relationship.

On this every uneventful day where we are fortunate where we are ending the day with just one very bruised shoulder on Luke, we did get to meet a neat young man in a store that many have shared we needed to go to.  A Gift From China is a store that sells all sorts of local and Chinese-made articles of clothing, bags, pictures and all sorts of goodies to those visiting the island.  It is obvious that it is geared towards adoptive families, since their guest book has you put the name of the agency you used on there.  Moreover it is a store where all proceeds are sent to orphanages in a nearby city in Guangdong (Xinjiang, I believe) through a non-profit organization called The Good Rock Foundation.   The store is one that we will frequent often while here, as it appears there is lots of potential for “outreach” here.  With all of the shopping in this area, it is nice to have an opportunity to help a small store benefit those that are less fortunate.

Marco is the young man that was working today.  (There are only two workers for this store.)  As usual, GDaddy got the conversation going with Marco by the time I worked my way around him.  He is a recent graduate of the Guangzhou English Teaching College for Handicapped and loves to practice his English on the customers.  In the conversation he shared how he had to overcome polio when he was very young, when he eventually lost the lower portion of his right leg to the disease.  He mentioned that he thought he would not be able to go to school, but his family gathered up enough money for him to attend college, so he could have a better opportunity in life.  Rarely will you hear stories like this while visiting here.  The most we will get out of some folks in these stores is “I make good price for you” when they want you to come in there store.  So Marco was a refreshing face to meet, and I will “request” to have more meetings with him before we leave.  As a bonus, this store has lots of items reference scripture passages and other related items.  So feel free to visit the sites of these two organizations to see what is going on here.

As you can see from the few pictures from today, the kids are bonding well with Mary Beth….almost spoiling her by fighting over who can do what for her.  As Jenn and I sat in the playroom tonight talking while our kids had the room to themselves, we mentioned that we are again glad that they wanted to come.  Mary Beth seems to be a very active young lady, and she would have been very bored with us.  We just hope that we can settle her down a little before the 24+ hour trip next week.

Tomorrow morning is the medical exam, where we hope that we have the proper affidavit paperwork  signed to have her vaccinations done once we get home.  We have seen parents the past two days where the children are not doing well after all the shots they have received.  So hopefully we can just get by with just a checkup in the morning.

Thanks for listening to this not-so-exciting day’s worth of adventures we had.  We hope that you are learning a little about this adventure and can sense a little what this is like.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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!

Our Final Day and Thoughts from Chongqing (10/13/2010)

It is hard to believe that our time in Chongqing has come to an end, as we have waited so long to get here.  But it is time for all of us to leave this place, to start the next chapter in our family’s life.

Today was full of travel across part of this huge city, starting in the old village of CQ, which has a history over 200 years old, but still functioning as a part of everyday life for many of its inhabitants.  We walked on cobblestone streets that were well over 100 years in age, and you could sense the rich heritage and pride in those people who lived and worked there.  Some of the things they did may have been a little “touristy”, like making the sticky rice, but still reminding the younger generations that these methods are still alive today.

Sophie told us that at night, many of the stores close, with the exception of a few restaurants, to serve the old villages favorite delicacy dishes of pig blood jelly and chicken innards.  She said people will come in to fill up the seats each night to feast on these dishes.  Not sure about you, but it really makes one hungry for some good ol’ USA fried food about now……

After leaving the old village, we visited the historic zoo in CQ, which was built in 1951 as a “Central Park” type of park for the city.  A few years later, they turned the park into this zoo, which seem very natural in its landscape and architecture.  With today being a workday and rainy, there were no more than 50 people in the entire zoo at any time.  So we had the place to ourselves and enjoyed seeing some exotic animals.  WeiWei was itching to see the China panda bear all week.  So when they were napping when we arrived, she was not pleased.  But after 2 hours of walking around the zoo to see the active animals, they were all awake when we circled back.  None of us had ever seen a live panda bear before, so it was a treat for all of us.

After leaving the natural setting of the CQ Zoo, we traveled across the street to the more modern zoo in CQ – the Wal-Mart Supercenter!!!  Very interesting to say the least, and I will end the conversation about that store quickly.

By the time we made one FINAL visit to CSC (China’s KFC) at the mall, we traveled back to the hotel around 4:30 and called it a day.  Everyone was pooped.

Tonight was a blast hanging out in the rooms…..all except for Jenn, as she diligently packed up everyone for tomorrow’s early flight to Guangzhou.  I had the fun opportunity to sit in the floor with Mary Beth and a deck of cards.  I started pulling cards and matching them by numbers and suit, giving Mary Beth hints as I went.  After one time on my own, she got into the game and tried matching them on her own.  After one hour of playing this, she aced all the cards, then started testing me like I did her.  We laughed and laughed, as she was already the teacher.  She tried to “instruct” me in her native tongue, which I so wish I understood her language……because I think she was telling me exactly what she thought!  It was so cool to have her learn these numbers and repeat them back to me so quickly.  It reminded us of her brain as a complete sponge right now, and these are the times that we need to really teach her what is important.

Mary Beth came alive in so many ways tonight.  Jenn and I had to verbally remind ourselves tonight, “Hey, did you know that she is missing part of her arm???”, as she was doing perfect flips on the floor, shuffling the cards herself, as well as not backing down to her brothers and sister while wrestling on the bed.  She will teach us much.....

As we reflect back on our time in Chongqing, it reminded me of two things this city really needs – some sunshine to brighten the faces on those here, and some real Sonshine to brighten the hearts of those who need the hope He brings.  We had a cool opportunity to Skype with a group of middle school students in their Switch small group from Church of the Highlands at Dwight’s house before we left this morning.  As a note of encouragement to them, we wanted to let them know that this place appears to be very “dark”, and not just because the sun rarely shines.  As middle school students, they needed to know what our Brother John wrote as his very first words to us in his book in The Book and how much the Word is needed in CQ.  There is also a statement he later quotes – about 14 letters/chapters later in the 6th sentence – from the Son as a reminder that the Son is the only thing that will bring hope to everyone.  We loved having the opportunity to challenge these students to let them know what was going on outside of their world.  (We still need that reminder too.)   I hope this challenge resonates with these students more than it did for me at that age.

We are sad to leave CQ, but happy to know that we will soon be joined by over 40 families from different agencies at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou in the next two days.  There will definitely be strength in numbers.

So as you are finishing your Wednesday at work, we will be waking up to get on the plane for a new adventure.....like Mary Beth's first time on a plane....

Thank you for interceding for us.  He continues to bless us and answer you on our behalf.

Final blessings from Chongqing, China.

We are officially a family of six! (10/12/2010)

It is difficult to know where to start right now.   All my girls are behind me in a dark room trying to go to sleep, and I have a ton of stuff in my head to talk about.  I will start first in a word of gratitude to each of you that have been requesting of our Father on our behalf the past few weeks.  It is a reminder that He loves to hear from His children.  Your requests have been heard, and He has graciously answered each and every one of them.  I never would have imagined what would be going on now after we met WeiWei 30+ hours ago.  Seeds of favor have definitely taken root, and we will continue to request our Father’s watering and nourishment of these seeds. 

We first met WeiWei yesterday as she walked into the Civil Affairs office about 1:30 on Monday.  Our guide, Sophie, told us that she had spoken to the foster mother earlier in the day and said that WeiWei had been up since 0400 that morning, so excited to meet us.  So I thought this was a shoe-in for the first meeting.  Then she told us that the letter and pictures we sent never arrived at her place.  That concerned us a little, but still thought that we could handle her not seeing our faces before.  However, we were met with a crushing blow as she walked in and automatically drew closer to the orphanage lady who brought her.   We tried all that we could to get close to her, but she would have nothing to do with us.   Her face was a look that we hope to never see again towards us.  Can you imagine what she must have felt, looking at six strange, white faces?  As GDaddy said, her heart had to be beating out of her chest.

After all the paperwork was completed, we tried to leave, but still had to drag people from Fuling with us until we had to leave for our hotel.  In the bus, she clung to Sophie tight.  After we arrived in our room, Jenn instructed me to take all the kids to eat at the CSC (aka China’s version of our KFC…).  She did not the kids to hear her scream once Sophie left.  All the kids (and GDaddy) were upset at her screaming.  Luke put himself to bed, hiding under the covers so he could not hear her.  But Jenn is so good (the best)!!!  After we left for 3 minutes, all the crying had stopped, and she had already warmed up to Jenn.  By the time we had arrived back at the hotel, she was starting to open up.

Open up she did last night.  WOW!!!  I am so glad that we were warned about the little girls from this area of China about their “spiciness”, because she started to let us really see a different side of her last night.  After a few conversations on Skype with family, she started letting loose – skipping between rooms, jumping in between beds and really playing with her big brothers and sister.  PTL!!!!

We knew that bedtime could get interesting, and we started to brace ourselves for what could be possible for the long night ahead.  We tried to lay WeiWei in between Lauren and Jenn in the double bed (slightly large twin bed…).  But she slid herself off the bed, grabbed the excess comforter from their bed, made herself a pallet on the floor and slept for the next 10 hours, not waking up until 0730 this morning.  PTL again!!!  We never expected that from her.  But it was a great sign for us.

After a fun breakfast at the hotel this morning, we met Sophie in the lobby to do about an hour’s worth of paperwork.  WeiWei was great during that time, crying just a little as we left Sophie to run back up to our room.  Since Sophie was the last person from her past that she knew, we realized this could be rough letting her go.

We then headed to the Bank of Communication to wire our fee to the orphanage at noon.  This took over an hour to count the bills and wire to the orphanage.  It was a lot to pay, but somewhat of a relief to know that we were not carrying this much cash on our bodies for the rest of the trip.  Throughout that whole time, WeiWei was awesome for us.

After that, we went back to the Civil Affairs Office for our ceremony to make us officially WeiWei’s parents and get fingerprinted.  This was pretty neat and reminded me of getting married again, as we took vows for how we would care for this sweet little girl.  (I almost wish parents would take this same oath when we had biological children…..)  This makes us officially a family of 6!!! 

It has been so much fun watching WeiWei’s growth in the past day.  Her look, her personality, and her whole countenance have changed from our first sight of this shy little girl.  We have not witnessed any shyness in her since late last night.  I think she will fit really well into our family, and we look forward to our future together.    Don’t get me wrong.  We have already had our moments of saying “bu yao” (pronounced boo-yow`), which means “NO” lots of times.  She is a curious 4 year old little girl.  She is getting into everything, trying to test our boundaries.  But she is one smart cookie, as she has figured out how to operate a camera, the elevator, a "Western potty", and our hearts!!

WeiWei is quickly picking up on English and is learning all of our names.  Jenn has also started teaching Mary Beth “The Name” too.  We will work on some songs for Him over the next few days, as she loves to sing already!

I cannot believe our Father has allowed us to be new parents again!!!  Today, we officially became a family and gained a new sister and daughter.  But it is so much more than that.  We have been given the awesome responsibility to offer a little heart an opportunity to know and love on her Father that she may have never known before.  May we never forget this responsibility!  It reminds us that this adoption is not about us.  It is our reminder of our Father’s adoption of us as His children.  We are no longer abandoned by the world, but brought into a family full of hope and bright future, just as we agreed to do today for Mary Beth.

Tomorrow is our last day in CQ, as we will tour the Old Town of CQ, the CQ Zoo, and Wal Mart for shopping for Mary Beth.  (Who can pass up a Wal Mart on a trip……even across the world?!?!?)


Thanks again for thinking of us and joining our blog family!  I wish we could enjoy it too, as Dwight is doing a great job of posting for us.   Maybe we can pick back up once we get to GZ on Thursday.

His servants across the world!

Pictures from Our First Day

Meet our WeiWei!!!!

Most of our readers will be glad to know that I am completely speechless and mentally tired after a day that started at 2:45 in anticipation of what was going to happen today.  We found out that WeiWei woke up at 4:00 excited about today as well.  However, for the first hour or so, she did not look too excited.  But it appears that it took her to warm up with us a little for us to get a small taste of her "spicy personality" that we were told about.

I will tell more tomorrow.  Right now, I am missing all the fun with the rest of the gang.  So enjoy a small part of our day, and we will share more later.

Blessings!!

The entrance to the Chongqing Civil Affairs Office

You would probably look the same way if you thought this was going to be your family!"

Lauren tries to make her move on getting close to WeiWei

Mama is so good!

First day in Chongqing (CQ) on 10/10/10

After we checked out of the hotel in HK, we contemplated taking the train to the Central District in the city, but realized that we would be too daring for our family and did not want to risk being late for our plane that evening.  So we hung out in the lobby and at the airport for the afternoon.  It was a pretty low key day for us and one that the kids were to have done.

We arrived in CQ late last night and met our lovely guide, Sophie, at the airport.  As she led us to our hotel, she informed us that she has known WeiWei (which is what she called her already) for over six months.  We learned a lot about WeiWei that we were not aware of based on the history we were provided.

It turns out that she has been in a foster home with another little girl for many months.  We were pleased that she was living in this environment, with another foster sister and a little boy that was a biological son of this mother.  Sophie mentioned that when she saw WeiWei months ago, she was not talking very much and shy.  When she last visited her two weeks ago (when her foster sister was adopted), she mentioned that WeiWei was much more lively and very talkative.  So this foster-home experience has been very positive for her, and it will help her transition to us tomorrow.   Apparently when were informed that the girls from these three provinces were “spicy”, Sophie mentioned that WeiWei was exactly that – full of personality and lively!  YAY!!!

WeiWei was very close with her foster sister, JJ.  She was very upset two weeks ago when JJ was taken home by her forever mama.  She wanted to go with Sophie when JJ left.  But Sophie promised that her "forever mama and baba" would be back in two weeks to meet her, and that made her excited to know that she will be adopted very soon.  When asked if she was ready to go, she answered that she was.  Double YAY!!!

Sophie was a peach today and took us all around Chongqing today.   I was not aware of the history this city holds.  We learned so much about its role in WWII, as well as today’s part in China’s local economy.  I know after 5 hours of riding the monorail, walking many miles and riding a bus, the kids were not at the point of taking it all in (like most of us were at that age). But we hope they were able to at least digest the sights, sounds and smells (lots of smells!!) of it all today.  They may never get to experience this again….or it may lead to a lifetime of experiencing this.  We will not know, but it is seeds placed in their hearts for a different group of people across the globe.  (Luke and Lauren were troopers as people just grabbed them and took many pictures with them.  They were little celebrities!)

It is difficult to imagine that in close to 16 hours, we will have our little sister with us.  The kids are so excited – even though they are completely zonked out now.  I know that the anxiety is rising for mom and dad as reality is hitting of our forever-family change in the next few hours.  But this is what we were led to do, and I would not trade one part of this for anything in the world.

Next time you hear from us, we will be a family of six!!!

Many of you have told us of your requests that you are lifting up, and we want you to know that we feel each and every one of them – more than you know.  Please continue to ask our Father for His hand to cover us.

Blog cut off in CQ

Well, what we have dreaded has occurred while we are in the city of CQ.  We do have free internet access at our hotel.  However, it appears that middle China is not as receptive to "Blogger" as we had hoped.  (TIC - this is China......)  Jennifer's brother has agreed to help us with our blogs, so we will be emailing our posts to him while we are in CQ, and he can update our family and friends while we are here.  Maybe we will receive more favor in GZ as we arrive there on the 14th.

We know that many are waiting for pictures of Mary Beth more than any messages.  So we request your patience as we work through this, and we will email as many as we can for Dwight (Jenn's brother) to post for us.

Xie xie!!  (That is - Thank you)

Disney Land Hong Kong - Magic across the globe

It's Magical no matter where you are......

After much deliberation yesterday morning in the lobby, we finally decided we would skip out on Ocean Park and head to Disney Land with the Freeland’s.  Unfortunately we waffled too long and caused us all to miss the free shuttle from the hotel.  But all it all, Disney was the place we needed to be. We had a total blast there.  I think we actually liked the fact that it was much smaller so that we did not feel like we left anything out.  We pretty much took in everything this park had to offer, no matter what age it was geared towards. 

Since Space Mountain was closed last April when our family went to Orlando, that was the first ride we all hit when we arrived.  Even GDaddy got on that one.  We were floored that he rode this with us.  However, that was pretty much all that he rode after that for the rest of the day, except the “low-key” It’s a Small World boat ride.  But he was a trooper through it all, even more than others in our family. 

.....unless of course you happen to not like Space Mountain....  :)

Since it was a Friday here, the longest we had to wait for any ride during the day was 5 minutes, so it made it much easier to go from ride to ride and catch everything we wanted.  However, there must be a “night discount” offered because around 4:30, you could tell that people were flooding into the park, and it was not as manageable to walk around as it was earlier.  But the park had a Halloween theme for the month, and lots of the park became geared towards ghosts and goblins for the night. 

We did have a couple of neat opportunities to communicate with some local folks today.  The first one was at lunch where we shared a big table with a mother and her young son.  It was obvious that she was curious about us, as she watched us the whole time, especially little Jessica.  As we were leaving, GDaddy did his usual "I never meet a stranger" conversation by telling her why our families were there.  You could tell that she was pleased we were adopting and bringing her into our families.  She then asked if we were "C's.  (She actually said the whole word.....)  She said she noticed that we prayed before lunch, and she was comfortable telling us that she was one too.  BAM!!!!  World opened up by His Grace.  It was great that any "perceived barriers" were broken down in His Name!!  PTL!!!

During the afternoon parade, we sat down to get a good spot on the front of the sidewalk to see the parade.  However, in China, it does not matter how you think you may have a good spot. It does not take long before you are overwhelmed by the local folks, as they do not recognize "waiting in line" here.  But it was ok, as it gave us the opportunity to get to know this sweet little boy that really adopted us as he did not recognize that we did not look like him.  We had a neat time playing and talking with him as the parade passed by.  His father seemed to also be glad that us "non-locals" really wanted to spend time with his son.  Father calls us to plant seeds "as we go" no matter what age or nationality.  We cannot miss opportunities like this to walk Matthew 28:19-20.

By late afternoon, jet-lag hit every one of us, and we were done by 6:00.  We had hoped to stay later for the last parade.  But we wanted to at least make sure we caught one free ride back to the hotel before it was too late.  (The taxi ride was not as cheap as we had hoped earlier.) 

All in all, it was a great start for our families in Hong Kong.  We will check out of this beautiful hotel (that Debbie Freeland so graciously offered to us) later this morning.  Our plane does not leave for Chongqing until later this evening.  So we are not sure what this city offers us for the day.  But I hope that even in these “simple plans”, we allow our Father to guide us to where we need to go.

Oh, you know how we said that we really just needed to make sure that the paperwork was all that we really needed to remember to bring?  Well, it hit me yesterday morning that the late-night trip to the supercenter was so important to get our last minute items that I totally forgot to get them out of the trunk before we left.  Nothing in there cannot be replaced.  But it was frustrating to forget these items, as there were some last minute gifts for the officials that we bought, as well as some things for Mary Beth (for her dry skin) that we hope to be able to find later today or in Chongqing.

One last thing for the day…..  Luke (in his usual huge-heart-self) came up to me and loved on me yesterday to thank us for bringing him to Disney, but to also thank us for bringing him to China to get his little sister.  I love that he continuously thinks like this.  As we talked and hugged, we were reminded that in 2 days (big gulp…) our family will change forever.  Wow!!!  That thought actually woke me up this morning with some anxiety (that and GDaddy’s snoring J).  I know that in the next couple of days, this reality will hit us deeper and deeper. 

What will Mary Beth think when she sees our strange white faces?  How will we react when we see her…..or even if she pulls back from us as we draw closer to her?  These are thoughts that continue to flood my head.  But they are reality and we must consider them.  (Isaiah 42:16)

It reminds us of how we are adopted by Him and how we react when our Father wants to draw closer to us, and we sometimes pull back in defensiveness or fear of the unknown, or where He will take us.  But He never stops His pursuit, no matter how hard we tug against His effort and love and no matter how long we push against Him.  We must pursue Mary Beth with this same type of love.  I cannot imagine she has ever been pursued like this before, and we must not lose hope.  We will gain her trust and love by loving as our Father commands, and by His example.  1 Corinthians 13 is the chapter that addresses love as it was meant to be.  This is the type of love we must offer to Mary Beth, as our Father commands us to also love the world.

Thank you for your prayers that we so covet these next few days. 

We hope to touch base at least once more from Chongqing before Gotcha Day.