Sunday free day

We had a free day and our plans to go shopping were washed away by torrential rains and storms today. After spending most of the day in the hotel room, we finally got out for an evening swim. We hit around a beach ball, Joey using his head. He's very inventive and refuses to be left out and has us cracking up at every turn. He's is now splashing in the tub shouting "what's your name" (one of the few English phrases he came to us saying) over and over again. The kid is hilarious.

Tomorrow we'll get the results of his blood test for TB. We'd love prayers that it's negative!!!

He slept a solid 13 hours last night.

C'mon little dude, we're ready for breakfast!

We brought little finger laser lights and he's obsessed with them. Helped keep him busy on a rainy day.

We got our bag of laundry back! Hallelujah, we've been wearing dirty clothes. :)

Playdoh is also a big hit. This is Ben's creation but joey is pretty good at it!

Played at an indoor play area here at our hotel.

We had a dinner at a Chinese restaurant with less than stellar service. Thankful for paper placemats and random pencils in our backpack to keep them busy during a long wait.

Orphanage visit

Wednesday we visited Joey's orphanage. Orphanage visits are not always possible on adoption trips, so we're very thankful they allowed us to come.  It was a moving experience to be sure. I worried about how it would effect Joey. It turned out to be a very good thing.

It's an amazing place- very unusual for an orphanage. Modern, clean and full of amenities like therapy rooms, music rooms, arts and crafts, etc. Some of the kids, like Joey, live in little apartments there with foster families. He had 3 foster brothers who lived with him and his foster parents. Due to construction, we sadly did not get to meet any of them as they are currently living at another location. 

It's unusual by orphanage standards to offer so much and we're grateful for the care he received. They gave him as good of a start as possible in his situation. We walked away with some things imprinted on our hearts.

No matter how nice, it's no replacement for a family. He walked away happily with no tearful goodbyes. He obviously felt comfortable there, but also felt ok leaving. They were teachers, friends and caregivers, but not his forever family. 

Despite only knowing us a couple days, his primary focus while we were there was US. Showing us his class, his apartment, his friends. He didn't leave our side. He beamed with pride and introduced us to all proudly. 

The kids there are precious. They hugged us shook our hands and grinned at us. There are about 300 kids in the orphanage and he is only the 4th adoption this year. Fourth. Most of those precious ones will never have a family.

Joey appeared to be one of the oldest in his class of kids with significant special needs. In that class over the years, he sang songs, did crafts and played games. But he didn't learn to read. Or write. He's 8 years old, very bright and clearly very capable of both.

The most moving moment for me was when his class wanted him to sing a song with them and he ran out in the hall. Not because he was shy or ready to leave...but because he wanted Ben to watch him sing. He dragged Ben in by the hand announcing proudly, GeGe, GeGe. Brother, brother.  Then, with brother watching, he sang.

 Family is what matters. Ask a kid who finally is having his chance to have one.

He is loved there though, and it showed. His teachers both cried and a crowd came out to tell him goodbye.  I think he'll have fond memories of them and his time there, but he's clearly excited to move forward. It was hard to drive away knowing how many are left behind.

They asked us not to post pictures of the kids or staff, but here's a few I can share.

Medical appointment- a slice of heaven

All adopted kiddos have to have a medical exam in order to get their visas. Today our family and many others went for their medical appointments. It took about 2 hours and each kiddo had to go through 4 stations: ENT, nurse's station, general wellness and TB blood draw. It was hot, crowded and chaotic and very stressful for many of the kids.

Per usual, Joey handled it with patience and cooperation. Although his official diagnosis is arthrogryposis and club feet, he has a lot of other things going on. Some things we knew about and some we found out about today. We're anxious to get him home and begin getting him proper treatment.  What we do know is that it's a miracle that he's walking and functioning at the level he is in his condition. He is very determined and God has really been watching out for him.

There were all kinds of adoptive families there today. Single parents, parents adopting 2 at one time, large families with grandparents for support, parents who have adopted many times.  All of the kids had some kind of special need: vision impaired, hearing impaired, down syndrome, spina bifida , cerebral palsy, cleft lip/palate...But all the families had one thing in common: in the midst of chaos, their new parents were the calm for their new child. Despite only knowing their new little one a few days, they held, rocked, soothed and comforted their new child in the midst of chaos.

It occurred to us that this might be what heaven looks like. Meeting the hurt and broken where they are and loving them. 

Adoptive parents aren't unique or special. They are normal people who simply said yes. They stepped out of fear and responded to the scary call to care for the orphan. God does the rest. He equips and empowers us. He knits the children into our hearts so perfectly that we no longer see a diagnosis but just a precious child worthy of our time and attention. Yes it's scary and hard and exhausting, but no one ever said it would be easy. It's all so worth it.

We're so blessed to be a part of this. It wasn't just a medical appointment. It was sacred and holy ground, as is this entire trip. I wouldn't want to be walking anywhere else. 

                          

We made it to Guangzhou!!!

Whoo, I'm behind on blogging! All is well. Yesterday (Friday here) was a big travel day. We left our hotel in Urumqi at 11:45am and arrived at our hotel here in GZ (Guangzhou) at 10pm. We quickly treated ourselves to McDonalds, which is right next to our hotel. Y'all, it was so good. We had ICE everyone. Cold drinks. So good. And Joey had his very first hamburger, which he started asking us for months ago on one of his video chats with us before we got him. He gets so excited about little things like that, his joy is contagious!

An 11pm bedtime made for very tired boys this morning and we had to drag them out of bed at 8am to make it to his medical appointment on time. More on that in another post.

I can't describe how happy we are to be here I'm GZ. There are English speaking people here! Not a ton, by enough to get by. We are much more comfortable exploring a little on our own and there at many other adoptive families here from various agencies and the fellowship with them is priceless.  Our hotel room here is awesome, way more food choices and more things to do. Today we got Papa John's which I'm pretty sure was his first pizza. We're loving it!

Joey was phenomenal on his first plane ride. He was calm and patient and we couldn't be more proud of him.  He was so excited by all of it, getting on the place, taking off, eating on the plane, landing....every little bit is a new adventure for him.

Being here in GZ makes us realize just how much of an adventure it was for us to be in his province.  There was security everywhere in Urumchi..to get in the hotel, into the stores,parks, etc. That's not the case here and we just feel more safe and at ease here. We were very sad to tell our guide Wendy in Urumqi goodbye, though. She became a fast friend and took amazing care of us, and we loved our time with her. She very special and played such a huge role in Joey's transition. We plan to keep in touch, and thanks to WeChat it'll be easy to do. She and Joey always had so much to talk about together!

Today we finally got to swim. As far as we know, it was his first time in a pool and as with everything else, he had no fear and loved it!


Our guide in Urumqi

She treated us to delicious dumplings at the airport- she said it's a traditional thing to est when saying goodbye

We had many makeshift meals in our hotel room there-chicken soup and oatmeal packets.

Both boys love the popular chinese cartoon Boonie Bears

Ben showed Joey had to build a fort.

Chatting with the kiddos at home.

Last breakfast in Urumqi. It can be quite an adventure at a buffet with him. He doesn't quite understand not to touch all the food on the buffet etc but he loves all the local foods for breakfast.

Packing up.

Hotel security in Urumqi

Off we go to GZ!

New city, awesome hotel

Burger and fries in our PJs