Gotcha Day

The day we had been anticipating for 9 months had finally arrived. After hurrying to get ready, pack, and eat breakfast, we left the hotel in Nanchang at 7:15. The van driver and Echo’s roommate vanka, meet us and led us to the train station. The train station was crazy with a mass of people, but Vanka guided us to the right gate and the through the crowd to the correct train car. We were the furthest one away, but we made it on time. It was the first car in the front of the train. It seemed like a fairly new train with nice comfortable seating. It was the D205 with a direct route from Nanchang to Changsha stopping in 3 towns along the way. The train went up to 200km/hr and gave us another great chance to see the country side. Pretty similar to the trip to Yihuang. It didn’t seem like one inch of land was left undeveloped. It looked like mostly rice fields, but other crops and gardens were intermixed along with the villages which were like a small Wisconsin town pack into a small area (10-50 houses per village each house was 2 or 3 levels talls). We had nice seats on the train. Leg room equivalent to first class on an airplane. It was a very smooth ride. We arrive in Changsha at 11:15 and met Anna on the outside of the station. Vanka then left us to take a train back to Nanchang. Vanka was very kind and we know that we would have been lost without her help.




Anna had a van and driver and they took us to the Dolton. We unpacked and relaxed a bit and then ate lunch at the western restaurant in the hotel. We met a really nice lady and her daughter from South Carolina in the elevator and they eat lunch with us. They were also getting their 3 year old girl at 3pm today. So at 3pm Anna arrived to give us a ride to the Civil affairs to meet Nathan (Kuo). Anna said that Kuo is pronounced cowah, which is unlike what we had thought, so we all worked at retraining ourselves. We arrived at the civil affairs. The lady from South Carolina was already there and meeting her spicy little 3 year old Hunan toddler, but Nathan had not yet arrived. We waited about 20 minutes and then the assistant Orphanage director from Hengyang arrived holding Nathan. At first Craig was the only one that he would allow to hold him, but after a bit he warmed up to Abby and then Jackie. He then let Jackie hold him. He did not want to be set down or stood up, just held. He was very thirsty and we gave him some water and star-shaped snacks. He did not want any toys or stuffed animal, but he did have fun with the snacks. He wanted to feed them to Abby and Micah. This was a nice way for us to bond. Finally we wrapped up at the civil affairs and took a taxi back to the hotel. Jackie went back out with Anna to get some supplies. We all spent the rest of the night mainly in the hotel room. We also took a short visit to the playroom on the 30th floor and took a quick look at the pool on the 9th floor. We eventually got Nathan to smile and even giggle a bit. He crawled, stood, walked, babbled and took a few steps. We played with the stacking cups most and he really enjoyed them. He is not where a 21 month old should be, but we are hopeful that this is only orphanage delays and not a cognitive disability. Overall we are very blessed that he seems to be accepting of us and even bonding to us (albeit optimistic for only a few hours) he is a very sweet boy, but we need prayers to make sure that we are able to accept his delays and/or he is able to catch up to his age. Today we are going to arrange to meet with a Physician to help determine if his delays are associated with cognitive or orphanage living.

God bless, Craig

p.s. pictures are going to be delayed as I am having troubles getting those around the Chinese firewall.

Yihuang Visit (Pictures)

Yihuang Visit

It is early Monday morning here, so this is the big day that we bring Nathan into our family. We are still in Nanchang now, but we travel by train at 8am to Changsha. It is a 3 hour train ride.


On Sunday we went from Nanchang to Yihuang by van. It was about 2.5 hour ride each way. We were really dreading the trip, but found it to be very worthwhile. Yihuang is where Abby was born and lived for the first eight months of here life. Traveling there and see the country side was very interesting. Not like anything you’d see in the US. There were rice fields and other crops dotting the landscape with little villages with 10-30 brick houses. Most were very broken down and many did not have glass in the window openings. The soil was the reddest that I’ve ever seen. It was fairly flat for most of the trip, but nearing Yihuang it got quite hilly. The roads going were surprising good concrete and blacktop roads. Interestingly on some roads one lane would be closed off with 100ft stretches of grain laid out presumable for drying. Lots of road and sub-development construction outside of Nanchang and Yihuang. Not much machinery, but many manual laborers.

Yihuang was appeared to be a fairly big (small by their standards) and spread out area. Mainly 3-4 story buildings, not much taller than that. Everyone lives in apartments. The orphanage director met our vehicle in a cab several miles out to guide us in. Arriving at the SWI, someone lit off a long string off fire crackers. And I’m not talking about those little fire crackers in the US, these were big ones that would take your hand off. I didn't realize at the time (Jackie did), but they lit these off to welcome Abby back. Pulling into the SWI area, it was just as Jackie and I had pictured it. The orphanage was in the same building as Abby had been in. The new larger building behind is for elderly people that cannot care for themselves. We first went up to the 3rd floor were they had a meeting room setup with Watermelon and grapes on the table and big sign saying “Welcome dack home Lin Li Han”. The orphanage director was not the same man that was director when Abby was there, but the assistant director was there when Abby was at the orphanage. The assistant director was one of the people that came to bring all 6 girls to the Lake View Hotel in Nanchang were we first met Abby. She remembered us, and even knew our year of birth (amazing). She remembered Abby as a fair skinned plump girl. They showed us Abby file. Much in the file was in the adoption papers that we got 8 years ago, but a few pages were new to us. One was the finding add that was placed in the paper looking for her parents. This has been a requirement for many years in order to satisfy that no one had come forward to claim her before she was eligible for adoption. Then to our surprise Abby’s foster mom showed up. Echo (our guide) had told us on Saturday that they couldn’t find the foster mom, but on Sunday Echo told us that they had found her. She was a very small sweet older lady. She had 2 boys of her own and 2 grandchildren. Abby was almost as big as her as you’ll see in the pictures. She had come on short notice all the way from her village which was about an hour bus ride. Her village speaks a different dialect than mandarin, so Echo spoke to her using the assistant director to translate. We presented gifts to the director and foster mom and they presented gifts to us. The foster mom gave as fresh Lotus fruit grown in her village and the orphanage gave us a book about Yihuang and a banner similar to the welcome one. We got to ask several questions before leaving the room. We found that Abby was in the orphanage for less than one month before the foster mom took her in for the next 3 months. She was then back at the orphanage for the last 3 months. We then got a tour of the children’s area. Approximately 46 children are under the care of the orphanage, but half are in foster care. In the baby area, I counted 12 children between 1 and 3 years of age. We got to see the room that Abby slept in. There were 2 rooms with about 6 metal cribs each. And one other room for older kids. Then there was a fourth room for play. This was the hardwood floor room that we had gotten pictures of Abby in. All the young children were in this room at the time we visited. All these 4 rooms were on the first floor. It was much much smaller than I had envisioned. I don’t even know were the facilities for bathing were. There was also an outside play area with some jungle gym type equipment.

Next we went to another building for lunch. They prepared a very nice family style meal with about 25 varieties of dishes to eat. Jackie & I tried many things. Understandable Micah and Abby were somewhat less adventurous. Several people and 2 kids joined the celebration lunch. One of the kids was a girl that was 14. They figured that the girl probably help out caring for Abby and the other girls 8 years ago. They claimed she had a mental disability, but Jackie and I had a hard time telling it. Thus the girl couldn’t attend school and was caring for the other children. Lunch included a good conversation amongst everyone on the rising housing costs.

After lunch we walked down to the SWI gate where Abby was left at 2 days old. We snapped more photos and gave our goodbyes and then left. All totaled about a 2 hour visit. Very very worth the trip. Invaluable is the only way we can describe it. Throughout the visit Abby was pretty quite, but I’m guessing this was a lot for her take in. Hopefully the visit will stick in her memory for many years so that she has a better understanding of where she originated. Sorry for the long post, but I had to get it all written down or I’d forgot details with my bad memory.

-- Craig

In Nanchang

We're in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province.  This is the city where we met Abby 8 yrs ago.  We're very thankful God has brought us safely here.  Thus far we have been on our own, navigating around airports with no guide is very intimdating and you can't help but feel vulnerable.  At the airport here in China, Micah and I had to use the bathroom before we departed.  We tried to explain to an airport staff our needs, but she couldn't understand what I was trying to communicate and gave us the motion to go away.   We walked further and found a restroom.  This ended up being an adventure for me.  I had forgotten that the public toilets in China are like urinals built into the ground.   I contemplated a few seconds and went for it.  The funny part of this story, when I walked out of my stahl, directly across the way was sign written in english that said "for the weak only".  I opened the door and there stood an American toilet.  I said to micah, "I can't believe I struggled for nothing". Micah on the other hand liked the chinese toilet better, he said "that's my kind of toilet I wish we had that at home".  Today we travel to Abby's orphanage.  Thankfully we will have a a guide and we met her last evening.  Yihuang is 3hrs away.  We hope and pray Abby and Micah will do okay with the traveling and processing their experience.  Our guide informed us that we will get the tour the entire orphanage and have lunch with the director.  We will also get a chance to review Abby's file and information they had about her when she lived there the first 8 months of her life.  Abby said she is excited to see where she lived.  I want to close with saying to our family and friends - thank you for your prayers. 
--Jackie

Pictures

2 days till we meet our little Nathan.  Here are a few pictures of the trip so far.  Enjoy the pictures- Craig

 Last suitcase in and we are off for Chicago.  After a week of packing we finally made it.

Leaving our hotel in Chicago at 6am.

Now boarding our flight in San Fran.  We've got smiles now, but this is b4 the 14 hour flight begins.

View from our hotel room in Hong Kong (Mong Kok).  Mong Kok is the most densly populated area on earth.

We took the MTR (subway) to Central station and then walked about a half mile up to the Victoria Peak tram entrance.  The look on Micah's face says it all.  About a half a block from the entrance Micah decided to sit down and said "I'm not taken another step, I am done".  He did not want his picture taken at this point. 

Again at the peak tram entrance.  Mid-day about 85 and humid.

On the tram headed up to the top.  Standing room only for daddy.

We made it to the top of Victoria's Peak.  Wow what a view.

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Okay dad, you can open your eyes, it's not that scary.

Hong Kong

Praise God we made it to Hong Kong safely.  Abby & Micah were real troopers during our 22 hrs of travel - UGH..  Thus far, we haven't been able to sleep much.  Hopefully with improved sleep our stress & anxiety will alleviate.  Today was our 1 vacation day.  Enjoyed the pool, went to victoria's peak via the peak tram, and went shopping (7 story mall connected to our hotel).  Now we are really beat.

Tomorrow we travel by vehicle to mainland China and then fly to Nanchang.  On Sunday, our plan is to travel with our guide to Abby's birth city.  We'll post pictures when in Nanchange.  Please keep us in your prayers for continued safety.  
--Jackie & Craig

Travel Plans

We are busy making travel plans and packing.  We fly out of Chicago on Aug. 18 and return on Sept. 2.  We'll spend 2 days in Hong Kong, 1 day in Jiangxi visiting Abby's birth city & orphanage, 6 days in Hunan, and 6 days in Guangzhou.

Craig