Christmas Card Perfect

It's time to Shutterfly (www.shutterfly.com) a Christmas card to every mailing address we can dredge up. So, like the amateur photographers/professional parents we are, we made the kids pose in front of the Christmas tree until their patience with the camera turned into impatience with the parents.

In the end, though, we had this shot:



Pictures of me always show some chubby bald guy. I don't know that guy, but he wears the same clothes I do. It's weird.

Pictures of Logan and Carly show a brother and a sister that love each other. I don't need a professional photographer to capture the sparkles in their eyes and the love between them. It's easy to catch a picture of something so true and wonderful.

Merry Christmas!

The Ups and Downs of 2010

There is a crazy song on Yo! Gabba! Gabba! that is all "Up, up, up, up...down, down, down, down" while a rocket floats up in the sky and then drops back down. It's an easy song to learn (two words!), and you'll find yourself singing along. Here's a link to it:

That's what 2010 was like for the Russell Family. Up, up, up we went as we our family of three became a family of four. How wonderful that was, is, and always will be!

In June, our rocket dropped as Logan became sick. His appetite was weak, and when he did eat...well, he didn't get to keep it. He began losing weight, and over about a three month period, he would lose around 40 pounds. We visited our family doctor, and Arkansas Childrens Hospital. No one could pin down his problem. Since we had been to China, our first thought was that Logan had picked up a parasite. But that test came back negative. However, we thought, that had to be a false negative. It was just too coincidental that we returned from a foreign country and in a few weeks had a sick child.

In July, his appendix became inflamed, and with some relief, we thought that was the answer. He had his appendix removed, and did feel better, but that wasn't the end.




In October, Logan became worse, and spent a week in Arkansas Childrens Hospital. Finally, though, we had an answer. Logan has Crohn's Disease. His inflamed appendix was a reaction to the Crohn's. A dose of Remicade (a scary "biological" drug delivered intravenously) brought his Crohn's under control. An infusion every eight weeks now keeps it under control.

The great thing is that our up, up, up 2010 rocket only went down a little. Logan is feeling better, and now we're only a little worried (instead of really worried) about the long-term effects of Remicade. We are very thankful for modern medicine, God's help, and for two terrific children.




It makes you want to say "Yo! Gabba! Gabba!"

Celebrating The Phone Call

A year ago this month, Sandy and I received The Phone Call. It was the call we had hoped for like we had hoped for the little blue line in the window of many pregnancy test kits. The kits never showed us what we wanted, so we stopped buying them and looked across the Pacific for a better answer. The Phone Call let us know that our answer had been found.

A year ago this month, our adoption agency called us and told us that we had a daughter. We would find her in the city of Nanchang in the Jiangxi Province of China. An emailed photo of her hit our inbox, and we spent the next 10 weeks imagining this tiny orphanish-looking Chinese girl dropping into our arms in this mysterious far-away place. Was that really what was going to happen? Would we just go get her?

Yes, that is really what happened.

We brought Carly home nine months ago. We love her and she loves us. Her kisses, hugs, snuggles, smiles, and giggles let us know that she was ours before we ever met her. Nanchang wasn’t that far away after all.

Today, she sits beside me on our couch in this small-town in America. Yo Gabba Gabba! is on the TV and her cup is full of apple juice. We’re sitting together watching this crazy show a whole year after The Phone Call.

A whole year later – Wow! I think I’ll celebrate this anniversary. I’m going to watch TV with my daughter.

Squeaky Shoes, Girly Clothes, and Red Thread

Two months ago, we dragged ourselves home and collapsed from exhaustion. A cloud of Chinese dust puffed into the air and slowly settled around us as we slept. That was okay with us. That Chinese dust gave us Carly Anne Yue Yi Russell.

Since January 26th, we have settled into our new way of life. It's a life full of remembered things like bottles and diapers, and new things like little girl clothes and squeaky shoes.

Squeaky shoes...let's think about them for just a moment.

Squeaky shoes squeak like dog toys. They squeak like your new puppy has found a favorite toy. They squeak a lot. They squeak loudly. The Chinese love squeaky shoes. They put them on their babies when they begin to learn to walk. The babies hear the squeaks and are delighted to learn that they can make more squeaks by taking more steps. The more steps they take, the more squeaks they make. The more squeaks they make, the more steps they take. It's a never-ending cycle. It can be maddening.

Squeaky shoes are sold in every cute style and every pretty color. The shopkeepers in Guangzhou know that the American parents passing through their shops have Chinese Yuans that they must spend before boarding their international flights home. The shopkeepers are wise and stock their shelves full of squeaky shoes that are cute and pretty-colored. We Americans don't leave their stores until we have thought about buying every single pair. We don't actually do that, but we consider it. They are cheap, after all, and we really do need to get rid of all of that extra Chinese currency.

The Russell Family tried to buy a pair of squeaky shoes for every possible occasion. We stuffed them into every corner of our suitcases and hoped that the airline employees didn't mistake them for suitcases full of mice. (Airline employee #1: "Did you hear a bunch of mice?" Airline employee #2: "Did I ever! We're infested! Empty the plane!")

Carly has worn squeaky shoes at home, church, family gatherings, Walmart, visits with friends, and doctor checkups. She began walking shortly after we came home, and now can walk very well. The squeaks haven't stopped, though. I'm a little worried about that.

Squeak. Squeak. Well, they do look good with all of those little girl clothes.

Carly's closet is bursting with dainty clothes in pinkish colors. They make the room glow with a girly cast of light. I feel pretty just walking by the door.

Sandy and I are very well blessed with a bunch of good friends. They must have been waiting with tensed muscles for the day they could snatch little girl clothes off of the store shelves. They have trucked them into our home faster than we could follow. Thank you to every one of you. I would name you individually, but I'm not very good at knowing who gave us what. Once the card is separated from the gift, it's like a great gulf forms in my mind. I can't connect the two. However, Sandy can quote every gift and gift-giver just like the Walmart Gift Registry computer. I don't think I can connect her to a printer, though, so please know that your generosity has touched our hearts.

Logan's heart has been completely given to Carly. He watches over her like a mother hen. She falls, he picks her up. She wants a toy, he gives it to her. She wants a Wagon Wheel (the Gerber baby treat and not the Wild West kind), he hands it to her. He has become her protector,her friend, and her family. He's her big brother. It's that simple.

Over the last two months, this new family of big brother, little sister, and mom and dad have bound themselves together. The Chinese believe that everyone is connected by a Red Thread. The Red Thread is a single piece of unbroken thread that binds your heart and soul to your family and friends.

Red Thread is strong and means that you will always have your family and friends.

What a nice idea.

Taking A Census...

I mailed our Census Form the other day. Three check marks for three white people and one for a tiny little Chinese girl. Sandy and I have just changed the demographics of Mammoth Spring, Arkansas.

I think it was for the better, don't you?

8 Planes, 4 Russells, and 3 Seats – Part 2

Plane # 4

Friday in Hong Kong was a day of gathering. Ten families (we would meet the eleventh in Nanchang) flew into Hong Kong at ten different times during that Friday. We gathered at the Regal Riverside Hotel, filled with the excitement of seeing and experiencing new things, and promptly fell asleep. Jetlag had exhausted all of us. Even jingling the strange Hong Kong coins in our pockets could not keep us awake.

So, Friday passed in slumber.

Saturday, we met with our agency representative, Matthew, and learned about our next flight. On Sunday, we would leave Hong Kong on China Eastern. This flight would take us to Nanchang. Within just a few hours of landing, our daughters would be brought to us.

We boarded our flight early Sunday morning. China Eastern flies in-China flights only, so we were introduced to airline food Chinese-style. Our main course was spicy noodles with mushrooms, and the sides were pickled bean sprouts, a pickled green plum, and a dried “fillet” of fish that stunk.

We Americans landed in Nanchang with empty stomachs. Not surprisingly, our fellow Chinese passengers slurped down every noodle, bean sprout, plum, and stinky fillet – with chopsticks. They all deserved gold stars.

Plane # 5

After our week in Nanchang, we packed our bags, challenged the airport security guards to label us as threats, and took another China Eastern flight. This time, our destination was Guangzhou.

After boarding our flight and fastening our seat belts, we noticed the stewardess coming down the aisle and stopping every once in a while to make someone change seats from the right hand side of the plane to the left. Bright people that we are, it only took about 4 seat changes to realize she was moving mothers with babies on their laps to the left hand side. When the stewardess came to Sandy, she explained that the left hand side had four oxygen masks. The right hand side, where we were sitting, only had three. Baby makes four, so Sandy and Carly had to switch seats.
Logan was horrified when the man from the seat on the left hand side of the plane plopped down beside him. This was invading Logan’s personal space. He pressed (smashed) himself against me for most of the flight even though the man was friendly and smiled a lot.

We had missed lunch, and would be flying into Guangzhou late in the evening, so we all assumed we’d be offered a meal. We were hungry after our early morning rush to dress and feed our new babies, dress ourselves, load our suitcases (now heavier with baby items), and our long and bumpy bus ride to the airport (with babies that didn’t like buses). We did all of this with arms and backs that were sore from using new muscles to carry our new daughters.

We didn’t care what they offered us to eat on the plane. Our week in Nanchang with its entrees of Braised Dog, Cold Jellyfish, and Frog Goop Soup had deadened our senses to the point that pickled bean sprouts sounded delicious. We were confident that we could really eat them this time. We really could!

Instead of the meal, though, we were tossed a piece of pound cake. It was a very dry piece of pound cake.

So, we ate it.

Sandy tried to eat hers, but most of it was crumbled to bits by Carly. Who knew that putting a baby on your lap on a plane and trying to eat a piece of pound cake was impossible? By the time the flight ended, she and Carly were covered with fine grains of dried pound cake. They smelled like a Yankee Candle…with a wet diaper.

On our side of the plane, Logan, and I ate in silence. The fellow next to Logan had the aisle seat, so all we could do was try to look over him from time to time to see how Sandy and Carly were surviving the flight.

We landed, passed through security, rode a bus to the White Swan Hotel, checked in, and collapsed for the night. It was eleven-ish at night, and we were pound cake weak and travel weary.

Plane # 6

After a week in Guangzhou, we were finished with our paperwork and ready to go home. But, we (all families) began to worry about our luggage. We had accumulated quite a few souvenirs and were all thinking that we wouldn’t have enough room in our luggage. All of our bags were bulging when we arrived at the White Swan Hotel. How could we possibly fit our souvenirs into them?

Besides, most of our clothes were now dirty. There is a strange traveling law that dirty clothes take up twice as much room as clean clothes.

Our solution was waiting for us in one of the little tourist shops. We spotted some large suitcases, and asked about the price. They were 90 Yuans, which is only about $13. Our U. S. dollars are worth about seven of the Chinese Yuans. Until recently, the U. S. dollar was worth about thirteen Chinese Yuans, but let’s not think about the devaluation of the dollar right now.

I rolled my suitcase back to the hotel and spread the good word among our fellow families. Soon, several families were sporting the same 90 Yuan luggage, which made that little shopkeeper very happy.

Saturday morning, old bags packed, new bag packed, carry-ons stuffed, and rooms double-checked for forgotten items, we boarded our last bus in China and set out on a 45 minute ride to the Guangzhou airport. China Southern Airlines waited for us this time.

After China Eastern’s pound cake, we didn’t dare expect a meal. We didn’t even want a snack. We’d just drink our tiny drinks with our pinkies up to make it special.

We couldn’t help feeling a little excited, though, when the stewardess appeared with an armful of green packages. A gift was coming our way, and we could possible eat it! It didn’t look like pound cake, nor did it seem to be pickled.

But, we found that China Eastern must frown on sweets because we were tossed a package of onion crackers.

Onion crackers?

Why would they choose onion crackers for people that are sitting on top of each other in a closed-system controlled-air environment? We couldn’t roll down a window, and it was almost impossible to squeeze your hand into your pocket to find your breath mints.

Still, we ate them obediently and waited for the landing gear to be lowered.
We landed safely in Hong Kong, gathered our carry-ons, and got our boarding passes for our international flight. Everyone was kind. No one ever complained about our onion breath.

Plane # 7

After a 3-hour layover in Hong Kong, we boarded Cathay Pacific for the trip back to the U. S. The flight over took about fourteen hours, but the reverse trip was only about ten. It’s amazing how a tail wind can shorten the trip. Since we were now traveling with Carly, we were extremely thankful for the tail wind.

Carly is a happy baby, and seems to travel well, but we hadn’t subjected her to travel 38,000 feet in the air. How were we going to quiet a baby when Economy Class doesn’t give you room to jostle and walk her until she calms down? When we boarded, I had glanced at the First Class folks, but hadn’t seen any sympathetic baby-lovers among them. Besides, once that thin blue curtain is closed between First Class and Economy, the border between the social classes is clearly defined. That option was out.

So, we began our flight home with crossed fingers that Carly’s patience and good attitude would last ten hours. Either that or that she would sleep for ten hours. We would be pleased with either choice.

One fortunate aspect about this part of our journey home was that we had booked seats in the bulkhead. This meant that we had a little fold down shelf available for a bassinet (supplied by Cathay Pacific). If Carly decided she has okay with sleeping on a shelf, then we were ready.

We were in a four-seat section in the middle of the plane. Sandy, Logan, and I occupied three seats. Carly was flying on a “lap ticket”. The fourth seat was next to me and was occupied by a younger Chinese man that traveled for most of the ten hours wearing eye shades and some paper slippers that he ripped out of a plastic bag shortly after the Fasten Seatbelt sign went off. His shoes were tucked neatly under his seat.

Until this part of our trip, we had stayed fairly clean. True, we were getting a little wrinkled and tired-looking, but still felt clean. That changed as soon as the airline served dinner.

For desert, we were given cheesecake with blueberry topping. Don’t be jealous about my cheesecake. Remember that it was airline cheesecake. It was like a doppelganger version.

Sandy set hers aside with the idea that Carly might like to try it later.

Carly was sleepy, and I held her until she fell asleep. I didn’t want to put her in the bassinet right away, so I decided to rest my arm on a pillow. I groped around on the floor until I found the pillow and stuffed it between my left arm and left leg. I rested very comfortably for quite awhile. I was quite pleased with my pillow prop.

Later, I stood up from my tiny Economy Class seat to put Carly in the tiny bassinet. I let the pillow fall to the floor. That was when I discovered that the blueberry cheesecake had been smashed into the pillow I had used as an arm prop. The plane’s lights were dimmed, so I could only feel a cold sticky mess. But, in a few hours, when the lights were raised and we exited the plane, my knee would look like a large berry-eating bird, such as an ostrich, had perched on my knee and pooped on me.

Poor Carly – she’s still BCD (Blueberry Cheesecake Deprived) to this day.

Besides sleeping and tearing paper into very small pieces, Carly is very good at filling her diaper. With American Pampers, this isn’t really a problem. However, she was still wearing Chinese Pampers (yes, the same brand, but made thinner). Thinner Pampers can’t hold as much as our version, of course.

While Carly was sleeping on her bassinet shelf, she silently filled her diaper. When she woke, she wanted her Mommy. Mommy happily scooped her up, plopped her into her lap, and learned that a thin, full diaper will release urine into Mommy’s lap very easily.

Now, we had a Dad with a bird-pooplike stain on his jeans and a Mom with baby urine-soaked pants. Brother was still clean…for awhile.

Logan, poor kid, had survived China on rice and soy sauce. He had crossed time zones like an expert traveler. He had dragged carry-ons and luggage through several airports. He was hungry and tired.

Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, Logan became airsick, also. He threw up between his feet (sort of – I won’t go into detail about “splatter”). When he was finished, I threw my blueberry pillow on top of the mess and then put my blanket on top of it for good measure.

So, we landed in San Francisco much dirtier than when we left Hong Kong. We were blueberry-stained, urine-stained, and vomit-stained. But, we walked through the airport with a clean and happy baby, so how could we complain?

Plane # 8

The American Airlines flight from San Francisco to St. Louis was a direct flight. It would take four hours, but we had a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains to entertain us for part of the first half. When night fell, we played Pass the Baby To Keep Her Happy and How Do We Heat A Bottle? We never seemed to really win at the first game, but a smart stewardess figured out how to make the bottle lukewarm, so we made her the champion.

Soon, St. Louis arrived like a fairyland. Its lights were bright and cheerful from the sky, and seemed to welcome us, officially, back to the U. S. We landed at 9:17 PM.

It was not a moment too soon.

8 Planes, 4 Russells, and 3 Seats – Part 1

Before China, our flying experience was limited to a short jaunt to Dallas on Southwest Airlines and an afternoon flying over Jonesboro, Arkansas with a pilot-in-training friend. He was working on getting hours so that he could get his license (to fly!). That was a couple of decades ago, and we have forgotten why we were so willing to fly higher than a kite with a friend that had more “taking off” hours than “landing” hours. We circled that tiny airstrip several times before he had the nerve to actually put the wheels on the ground. I had started watching the fuel gauge and looking for parachutes and soft haystacks.

For our China trip, we would fly on eight different planes. Some were big, and some were bigger. I suppose that they all had names and designations like “Boeing 747”, but I can’t pick out Model Ts or Edsels, either. You may see me peering in the windows at car shows, but I’m really just faking it. I don’t know what I’m looking at.

Plane # 1

Our first flight was from St. Louis to Chicago. I was lucky and scored the window seat. Lucky just means that I claimed “Dad Privilege” and elbowed Logan aside. The takeoff was smooth, and we soared over the St. Louis Arch like true jetsetters.
After the stewardess had served me a half-ounce of Coke, I sipped it while gazing out the window as the sunlight faded. My lucky window seat was over the wing, so as the ground disappeared below the clouds, I was fortunate to be able to ponder the miracle of aerodynamics.

I remember reading one time that a bee shouldn’t be able to fly. Its wings are too small and delicate to lift such a large body into the air. That’s the theory, anyway.

So, why should an airplane be able to fly? It’s made of heavy metals and filled with heavy people getting heavier on tiny glasses of Coke. We don’t even attempt to work off any calories as we fly over the Rockies. We just sit in our seat, read Sky Mall magazine, and buckle our seatbelts so that we can’t suddenly jump up and do deep-knee bends.

Also, the plane doesn’t even flap its wings.

I decided this was a dangerous train of thought, and played Scrabble Slam until we landed in Chicago.

Plane # 2

Our “Going on a Trip” giddiness and more Scrabble Slam took us from Chicago to San Francisco. Night had fallen completely, and I wish we had realized that we would follow the night for the next 20 hours. I might have been more mentally prepared for prolonged darkness. I would have drunk more milk for the Vitamin D since I was deprived of sunlight.

Plane # 3

We left on our third plane ride at midnight from the San Francisco airport. This was really 2 am for us and our family and friends at home, but, everyone in California acted chipper and happy, so we joined in and ignored the time difference.

This was the longest flight of the whole trip. We flew over the Pacific for 14 hours. Our seats had personal TV screens where we could check our location and flight path. Instead of flying straight across, we arched toward the North Pole and passed back down over Asia. I guess we wanted to sneak up on Hong Kong so that they wouldn’t have a big surprise party for us when we landed. Maybe that’s because none of us were dressed for a party.

As you know, we had to make travel arrangements really fast. We couldn’t waste much time looking for the best seats and had to concentrate on the available seats and the price of the seats, instead. Cathay Pacific is a popular international airline and flies fully booked all the time. We had to take a Wednesday flight to be in Hong Kong on the 6th, so we booked two seats in one row and a third several rows away.

I had run out of “Dad Privilege” power and sat in the lonely third seat.
Sandy and Logan sat together while I had an aisle seat in a four-seat section. I appreciated that I wasn’t smashed between two strangers. Instead, a small and old Chinese man sat beside me. His wife and her mother (she looked crotchety and even older) took the other two seats. He smiled at me, said something in Chinese, and pulled out a Chinese newspaper while Wife and Mother folded their hands as if they were at peace with the world.

He was very polite and never intruded into my space. He must have been a contortionist because he eventually kicked off his shoes and folded his scrawny legs into the seat with him. I have trouble standing back up after squatting down and picking up a box of corn flakes off of the bottom shelf at the grocery store. I should work on that.

The only disturbing thing about him was that he smelled like Listerine. Wife and Mother must like that smell because I never saw them wrinkle their nose at him. I guess they have lived with it for many years, so maybe they were use to it. Or, perhaps their folded hands were evidence of a silent prayer for the smell to go away.

I clicked around on the little TV for awhile and found a couple of movies I might watch later in the night. I was thinking about a man I once knew that bought a bottle of Listerine every day (I think his habit had something to do with the alcohol content), when I fell asleep. I awoke six hours later and found Sandy standing over me. That was kind of creepy on a dark and loud jet.

She told me that she did not like me being in a different row. My heart thumped with pride at the thought that my family wanted me beside them while we flew over the deep and dangerous Pacific. I started to open my mouth and agree that I wanted to be there, also, when she added that she was blocked in her seat by a frail old woman and she couldn’t disturb her so that she could get up and use the restroom.
So, there you go. I was just a gateway to the restroom. The deep and dangerous Pacific had nothing to do with it.

Anyway, the restroom sounded like a great place to be at the moment, so I went with her and stood in line with her. In a few moments, I spotted Listerine Man and Wife roaming up and down the aisles. Mother was still in her seat, and, honestly, I don’t remember her ever getting up during the whole flight. I realized, then, that they had been waiting for me to wake up so that they could stand up and move around. I felt bad that I had selfishly snored away six hours while they were trapped. I imagined that they must have looked over at me several times during those six hours and tried to wish me awake. I vowed to get up more often in the name of peaceful international relations and potty breaks.

After my turn in the restroom cubicle, I waited for Listerine Man and Wife to settle down before returning to my seat. I watched my movies, occasionally released my seat-neighbors into the wilds of the aisles, and passed the rest of the night checking our location. We passed over the halfway point and descended toward Hong Kong.

We could get snacks from the plane’s galley anytime that we wanted, so I made a few stops at the cracker bowl and sodas during the night. Noodles must have been hidden away for the Chinese travelers because Listerine Man suddenly had a bowl of steaming noodles. I watched out of the corner of my eye in fascination as he slurped up the noodles with chopsticks. I don’t know how he ever snagged enough noodles to have a satisfying mouthful. But, he must have had about 70 years worth of practice because he was very good at it.

After fourteen long hours, the pilot finally announced that we were landing. I tidied the little mess of drink cups and cracker wrappers I had made around me while Listerine Man put on his shoes and refolded his newspaper into a smaller package. Right before we were told to fasten our seatbelts, he pulled a tiny clear bottle, a vial, really, from his pocket. It had a small label with Chinese characters. He opened the top and dabbed about 5 drops of the stuff behind each of his ears. Listerine Man was now Super Listerine Man. He put away the little bottle and fastened his seat belt. I wondered if he could jump out of the plane and defend us from Godzilla.

I’ll never know what that stuff was. I never saw anything like it during rest of my visit in China. He was satisfied with it, though, and found some comfort with it, so I guess that’s all that matters. Wife and Mother never questioned him about it.

We landed in Hong Kong at the break of dawn. We found our luggage, and waited for Matthew, our adoption agency guide. Around us, other planes landed and took off. Some of those planes were bringing in other families like us. We would meet them later in the day, and join together. The jets in the sky were charged with delivering us all safely to Hong Kong.

They did a great job.

Carly

The U. S. Consulate

Before Carly can be issued an immigrant visa to be able to enter (and stay!) in the U. S., we have to take an oath at the U. S. Consulate here in Guangzhou. The oath is our statement that we have been honest during the process of completing all adoption paperwork.

This is a milestone. Remember the long wait we had from October to December when we were waiting for “some paperwork” from China? We were waiting for the consulate appointment. This is that last piece of official business that we have to do. Once we take the oath, our babies will be issued a visa within twenty-four hours, and we will be able to board our flights home.

So, at 2:00 today, our group met Jason and Jocelyn in the hotel lobby and boarded a bus that would take us across the city to the U. S. Consulate. Travel time took about 50 minutes. We really weren’t that far away, but Guangzhou traffic was as congested and scary as it normally was, so we were just pleased that we arrived at our destination in one piece.

We went through security and then headed to the waiting room. While going through security, Sandy learned that she shouldn’t have worn a blouse with a sewn-on metal decoration. Although it looks nice, it will make the security guards nervous when it sets off the alarm. They eventually waved her through, which made me happy. I didn’t want to have to apply for an immigrant visa for her, also.

Thirty-two families had consulate appointments. Some of the families were from the same adoption agency we were, but the rest were all different. Family-by-family, we listened for our names, signed some documents, and then waited for the oath.

When they had finished calling all of our names, an American woman entered the room and talked to us about her job, the oath, and congratulated us for finally completing our adoptions. Then, we all raised our right hands as she led us in the oath.

When we finished, we lowered our hands, looked at each other and realized that every family in that room had waited 4 to 5 years for this moment. We had babies in our arms and had finished all the paperwork.

Now, we can breathe easier. We can start packing. We’re done.

The Happy Buddha Buys a T-Shirt

On Tuesday afternoon, we strolled around visiting the shops that cater to the tourists and adoption families. T-shirts are a staple, you know, so Logan and I went in search of a t-shirt that would let everyone know we had visited China.

We quickly found one for Logan. It has a panda and some Chinese characters on it. For myself, I found a design with a dragon and phoenix on it. Excitedly, I asked the little Chinese shopkeeper for one in my size. She looked me up and down, patted my stomach, and said "Happy Buddha".

I didn't even look at the size tag. I just paid for the crummy shirt and left the store.

Clinic Day

Every child leaving China as an adoptee must have a final medical checkup, so on Monday, we met our agency reps, Jason and Jocelyn, in the hotel lobby and walked for about 10 minutes until we came to the local clinic. This clinic was open to the public, but, since it services many adoptees, it also had a special area set up for adoption checkups. Within this area, there were three rooms. One room was for weighing and measuring, the second was for general checkups, and the third was for ear, nose, and throat. We would have to take our paperwork into each room and let the doctor complete and sign his section.

Even though we all had healthy daughters, we were a little nervous. After all, these doctors could spot a runny nose and decide to use their power to require that we remain in China until it was gone. We didn’t know that they would do this, but we knew that they had to give us a clean check up, so it was a possibility. We sat in the Adoption Room waiting area and secretly wiped noses and quietly checked for sudden fevers.

Once the doctors arrived, we were told that we didn’t have to go to each one in a certain order as long as we made sure to visit each room. So, we spent the next 30 minutes criss-crossing the waiting area, passing other families, and asking “Have you been to that one, yet?” Eventually, all three doctors had poked on every little belly, looked down all the little throats, and were satisfied that all the little ears could hear. We emerged from the Adoption Room with officially-endorsed healthy children – all fit for traveling to and living in America.

The only real down side of the clinic trip was that three of the families, including us, fell under The Hague Convention Treaty. This is an international treaty establishing certain guidelines for adoptions. We three families were subject to this treaty due to the timing of the expiration dates of some of our paperwork that we had completed over the last 5 years.

This treaty required that we follow new guidelines for immunizations. We were given Carly’s immunization records when we were in Nanchang. We gave the clinic our copy, and they determined that Carly would have to have six additional immunizations to comply with the Hague requirements. One of the other babies had to have seven, so it could have been worse. Carly thought the whole thing was horrible. She let us know loudly and with much kicking.

Honestly, I thought it was horrible, also.

Chinese Village

The Village

During our stay in Nanchang, Evelyn and Karen arranged for us to visit a village. This was important to all of us. Had our babies stayed in China, they probably would have grown up in one very similar to the one we visited.

On Wednesday morning, we boarded our bus and drove outside of the city to a small village. Before you imagine shacks and dirt roads, you should know that we would have had to have driven 3 or 4 hours to find a village that primitive. The village we visited was composed of several paved streets lined with identical government-built homes. Well, they were identical in the sense that they were originally built identically with the same government-approved design and the same government-approved gray concrete. Over the years, they had deteriorated. Some of the homes were under renovation, but I don’t believe that they could ever be renovated to the point that that they did not scream poverty and depression.

Evelyn and Karen explained that the biological mothers of our children probably lived within one of these types of villages. They could not have lived farther away due to the cost of traveling to a city like Nanchang to abandon their baby. So, we walked the streets, growing more somber with the heavy imagined scenes of our new daughters living in this very village, walking these same streets, and watching Americans stroll by with their digital cameras.

We started the tour of the village at the grocery store. The store did not have automatic doors or refrigerated produce and meats. Instead, the meat was a just-killed hog, cut into pieces, and hanging from a line on the street corner. The produce lay scattered in boxes on the ground.

We spent about 45 minutes walking down the street beside the grocery. Most of the villagers were either under 4 years old or over 60. Everyone in between these ages was either in school or was in the city working. You need to understand that “working in the city” does not mean that they commute. City workers cannot afford to commute, so they find some sort of cheap lodging, and send their money home to the grandmothers and great-grandmothers raising their children. Once or twice a year, they return home to visit. That’s once or twice a year – not once or twice a week.

About half-way down the street, we came to a woman washing clothes (in cold water on a cold day) by dipping them in a bowl and then beating the clothes with a stick. A little farther down, a man stood on the side of the street and washed his hair. He was fully clothed, so I guess he wasn’t concerned about getting his clothes wet. He lathered and rinsed his hair with water from a bowl.

Some of us had brought lollipops to hand out to the children, and were rewarded with smiles from the young and old alike. The caretakers brought the children out to see us. Everyone was friendly. They were as curious about us as we were about them. We were “The Americans With Chinese Daughters” and we would be talked about for the rest of the day.

We had a connection with these villagers. They were our kinsmen, in some respect. The difference between us was that we would leave the village on a warm and comfortable bus. They would never leave.

Thank you, Evelyn and Karen, for making us realize that we need to remember that this journey was not just about us becoming parents. It was about our daughters having a future.

Buffet at the Jin Feng

Buffets are wonderful. You get your choice of many different delicious foods, and can fill your plate again, and again. In America, we will choose our restaurant based on the size of the buffet.

The Jin Feng buffet is a big buffet, so our group was more than excited at the possibilities. Our memories of Chinese buffets in America were rich with sweet and sour sauces and delicious egg rolls.

Sadly, we discovered that the edible (in our opinion) choices were very few. The Chinese consider many things to be delicious that we consider being, well, trash.

So far, the Jin Feng has offered us fried intestines, whole stir-fried frogs in a black broth, cold jellyfish, and duck head floating in…something. We haven’t been interested in these choices.

There are some familiar foods…prepared in unfamiliar ways, however. The fried egg is more un-fried than it is fried (no, not just “runny”) and the bacon is warmed, but that’s as much effort as they put into it. The bowl of boiled eggs looks good until you realize that they have been boiled in tea.

Where are the egg rolls???

Hmmm.

To be fair, they have offered some really good foods. The almond muffins have been my breakfast favorite. The buffet offers plenty of fresh fruits, also. But, you can’t eat almond muffins for every meal, and honestly, an apple a day is a little too much fruit for me.

We’ve thought about trying to cross town to find KFC. It is located in the same area as Walmart, though, and that experience is still too fresh on our minds. Also, we’re a little worried that a Chinese KFC may not be as selective in which chicken parts to make extra-crispy.

We’ve heard the buffet offered at the White Swan hotel in Guangzhou is very “westernized”. Hopefully, that doesn’t just mean that the eggs aren’t boiled in tea.

I’ll let you know.

Walmart Nanchang Style

With a market of four million people, it’s not surprising that Walmart is in Nanchang. Think of all those people needing Every Day Low Prices and Great Value products!

On Monday afternoon, Evelyn and Karen herded us all onto the bus, babies in our arms or in baby slings, and drove us to Walmart for supplies. They told us that we planned to hit two sections of the store. We would first go to the baby section to buy diapers (now that we knew the right size to buy) and the snack and water section. We Americans find it difficult to go very long without our junk food, plus we were all extremely thirsty. You don’t realize how much water you drink until you are told that you can’t drink the local water.

We all thought it odd that the reps would emphasize that we would only go to two sections, and that we would go as a group. After all, we were Walmart experts. We could all probably take an empty store and tell you exactly where everything should be stocked.
We soon understood.

The Walmart in Nanchang did not even remotely resemble the blue and gray, wide-aisled stores that we love at home. We pulled up to a 5-story building with red Chinese symbols over the entrance. The symbols looked like they were trying to say “Walmart”, but I think they really said “Foolish Americans Enter Here”.

This was a Monday afternoon. Not a holiday or special sale day. Nothing about the day was special at all. But, imagine the busiest Christmas shopping day you’ve ever seen and then triple the number of people. We now knew why Evelyn and Karen wanted us to stay together. If we were separated, we would wander around until another Chinese emperor came into power.

We entered the building and immediately merged into a stream of about 50,000 people. We took two escalators (or maybe the crowd just pushed us slower Americans up the stairs), and emerged onto the third floor. We found small shopping carts with strange wheels that would roll in any direction. If you wanted your cart to go diagonally across the aisle, then you were in business.

The small carts made sense to us since we had been told that the Chinese usually only buy what they can carry in their arms. The multi-directional wheels did not make sense until we hit the sales floor. Then, we discovered that the bumper-car like atmosphere made the carts absolutely necessary. If you couldn’t drive straight down an aisle, then just ricochet off the others and you’ll reach your destination. Genius, Sam Walton!
The aisles were tight, jammed, and overstocked. The noise was deafening. Everyone…EVERYONE bumped into everyone else.

But, I must point out that the Chinese are all extremely polite. They don’t elbow each other to get to the jumbo bags of cheese popcorn, and they don’t glare at the people standing in their way in the greeting card aisle. They know they don’t have any personal space, and they’re okay with it. They know that their ricochet carts will eventually bring them to the items they’re looking for, so they are patient - persistent, but patient.

We ricocheted around and found all the baby things we needed, and then headed to the water and snack section. Logan was joyful at finding the Pringles, but dismayed when he realized that the flavors were “Seaweed”, “Shrimp”, or “Burnt Meat”. Burnt Meat? We didn’t understand that one, either.

By this point, Sandy’s eyes were getting really big (a sign that she’s getting stressed), and Logan looked ready to take a crop duster back to the U. S., so we quickly loaded our cart with all the water we could carry and headed to the checkout.

There were at least 60 checkout stands going full blast and with shoppers 7 or 8 deep. There could have been more checkouts, but I didn’t have my binoculars with me. Our purchases totaled 447 Yuan’s (about $60), so I paid with a bunch of Chairman Mao’s bills, and we joined the escalator mob to the bottom floor.

We fled to our bus, and were silent on the way back to the hotel. Walmart Nanchang Style had exhausted us.

Registration Day

On Tuesday, we woke early and met in the lobby at 8 am so that we could file the paperwork that the Chinese government required. We traveled by bus (eyes closed so that we couldn’t see the traffic) and stopped at a tall government building that housed the office we needed. The building appeared to be unheated. We traveled by elevator to the 26th floor, and I never detected any heat.

We stopped, first, in a room where a photographer instructed us (through a translator) to sit on a bench. He photographed us as a family, and then photographed Carly by herself. The family photograph was used to create the “Red Book”, which is the official document stating that Carly was now a member of our family. The photograph of Carly by herself was sent to another heatless floor to produce Carly’s passport to the U.S.

Then, we filed into a meeting room and waited to be called family-by-family into the interview office. When our turn came, we picked up the red gift bag we had brought (every family had a red gift bag with some sort of gift inside for the official that would interview us) and entered the official’s office. A young woman sat behind the desk. She was very pleasant and asked us a few simple questions: Why did we want a Chinese daughter? How do we plan to educate her? Do we promise to never abandon her?

We were told this was just a formality since we had already been matched with Carly by the China Center for Adoption Affairs, but, still, it made us nervous. Who likes to be interviewed?

However, the official seemed satisfied with our answers. At least, she didn’t suddenly jump up and summon someone to wrestle Carly away from us. We thanked her, gave her our gift, and were surprised when she had a gift for us. It was a vase covered with Chinese writing.

We stopped by another heatless office to pay some fees, and then we boarded the bus to take our documents to another office building to be notarized. At this office, Carly’s orphanage director dropped in and asked if we had any questions for him. Naturally, we couldn’t think of any real questions, so after talking to him for a few minutes (always through a translator), we thanked him for taking care of Carly. He asked us to send photos to him as she grows. So, we promised and had our picture made with him. We had brought a red gift bag for him, also, so we gave it to him at this time.

By the way, in the Chinese culture, you are expected to give a gift to someone that has done a service or favor for you. Red is a lucky color to the Chinese, so giving a gift in a red bag makes it special.
We boarded the bus for the return trip to the hotel, and were well on our way when it suddenly hit us that the Chinese had just officially given Carly to us. All that was left was to get her passport, visa, and the U. S. approval for her citizenship. We’ll pick up her passport at the end of the week, and will get the visa and citizenship documents in Guangzhou next week.

China had just completely given us one of her daughters.

Gotcha Day

We left the modern and tourist-filled Hong Kong on Sunday, January 10th. Our destination was Nanchang in the Jiangxi Province. It was obvious that we were going deeper into mainland China. The airline (China Eastern) served us a lunch of spicy noodles, dried fish, pickled bean sprouts, and a pickled green plum. Yum.

I think that the dried fish was the same stuff that I sprinkle over my aquarium at home.

When we arrived in Nanchang, we left the plane by exiting onto an open-air platform into the cold wind and rain and descending a set of slippery metal steps. We had been spoiled by the enclosed and comfortable walkways provided by the airports in Hong Kong, San Francisco, Chicago, and St. Louis.

We dashed across the pavement and entered a plain building where we lined up to go through three security checkpoints. The airport staff conducted the checkpoints, but the Chinese military was present and carefully observed everything. The atmosphere was not unfriendly, but it wasn’t welcoming. We had landed in their country, so they dealt with us.

I should point out that the flight we were on was a commercial flight, so it was filled with many travelers. Our small group of 10 families composed the only Americans on the flight. The rest of the passengers appeared to be Chinese returning from Hong Kong. We were all treated the same at the checkpoints.

Our adoption agency reps, Evelyn and Karen, met us at the park and whisked us onto a bus to the hotel. The Jin Feng Hotel is a five-star hotel, and had graciously sent two bellboys to handle our luggage for us. While we waited in the bus, the bellboys stowed our luggage without complaint in the wind and cold rain.

The trip to the hotel was about a 30-minute trip on a rough “highway”. China is starting to enjoy a new prosperity, but poverty and disrepair is evident everywhere. We passed shacks, fields that resembled wastelands, crumbling buildings, and people, people, people. China’s population is 1.3 billion.

I think they were all on that highway.

A word about the traffic…

In America, we believe that if a road is painted with lines then we must stay within those lines, and that pedestrians must stay on the sidewalk. In China, they believe that a road designed for four lanes of traffic can really hold 6 lanes. The lines are ignored. After all, they have very loud horns to tell the other drivers where they are going to be driving next. Mixed into the motorized vehicles are carts pulled by donkeys and bicycles.

I have learned that every bicycle is designed for two or three riders even if there is only one seat. Somehow, you just hop onto the bike with the guy pedaling and off you go.

That sounds crowded enough, but don’t forget that the pedestrians are heavily mixed into the traffic. They aren’t just trying to cross the road. They are walking the street with a destination in mind. The cars, donkey carts, and bicycles rush around them. They appear unconcerned that they will be run over, and honestly, I have yet to see an accident.

We arrived at the hotel, checked into our rooms, and immediately went to a meeting with Evelyn and Karen. They explained what we would be doing for the next few days and then sent us back to our rooms at 4:30 to get ready for our daughters. The orphanages were scheduled to arrive at 5 pm.

At 4:40, Evelyn called our room and said that our orphanage was early. Carly was waiting for us in the meeting room. We were the first to get our daughter.

We grabbed our cameras and rushed downstairs. We recognized Carly as soon as we entered the room. Her hair was thicker than in our last photograph, but it was her.
We had imagined that there would be some sort of ceremony (The Handing Over of the Baby, maybe), but the orphanage director simply walked over to us and handed her to Sandy. It happened so quickly that we missed using the camcorder. A member of another family grabbed our still camera for us and took several photos.

We talked to Carly, touched her hands and face, and tried to guess how many layers of clothing she was wearing. Her cheeks were bright red from the heat of all of her clothes, and she seemed unable to move. She just looked at us with curiosity.

In a few minutes, all of the families had their babies. We had all waited four to five years for our daughters, and now, in a matter of 15 minutes, we had them. Wow.

We were back in our rooms by 5:10. We held Carly for a few more minutes, and then decided to put her in clean clothes. We removed four layers of dirty and torn clothing. We put her into some of the new and clean clothes we had brought and she seemed to enjoy the freedom and coolness of wearing only one set of clothes.

Then, since we had been told that the babies hadn’t eaten, we began to try to figure out how to make the rice and formula mixture that the Chinese feed their children. The orphanage supplied two weeks of formula and rice cereal for us. We must be doing it right. Carly is drinking every bottle without complaint.

The rest of the evening was spent completing more paperwork, giving Carly a bath, and making Skype video calls to family. Carly is very happy and active. She is curious about everything. We are learning about her as much as she is learning about us.

Gotcha, Carly! Gotcha.

Gotcha

Quick Update

Hello! We have not had internet access since our last post. We are sitting in the airport in Hong Kong waiting for our flight to Nanchang. Luckily, the airport has wi-fi, so here is a quick update.

Our time in Hong Kong was filled with meeting the other families and learning about Hong Kong. Now, we are about 5 hours away from getting Carly. We will fly to Nanchang (about an hour flight), be met by our agency reps, and check into our hotel. The orphanages will bring the babies to our hotel.

We are supposed to have good internet access from our next hotel, so we will post more at that time.

Steve, Sandy, Logan, and soon...Carly.

Hong Kong...Finally!

Just a quick update to let everyone know that we have made it to Hong Kong. We're tired (an understatement), but have arrived safely.

Our plane rides began at 3:20 in the afternoon on Wednesday. Thursday disappeared along with the time zones, and Friday arrived 24 hours after we first boarded our plane in St. Louis. Well, everyone here in Hong Kong seems to think it is Friday. We think they just made the airport too big, and lost Thursday in one of the terminals.

For now, we're going to sleep, and hope that it's not Sunday when we wake up.

Thank you to all of you for your prayers!

Carly's Room

Just in case you thought we forgot to get her room ready...

Our Itinerary in China

We will be in China from January 8th through January 23rd. Many people are curious about why we have to stay in China for so long. After all, we get Carly on the 10th. Why can't we just come home? Well, there is still work to do. It's true that we will have a few days free, however, most of the days will be dedicated to some required task or paperwork. Below is the daily itinerary planned for us by our adoption agency, CCAI.

January 6 Leave the U.S. for Hong Kong.

January 8 Arrive in Hong Kong. When you arrive, get your baggage, go through Customs and exit this part of the airport. A CCAI representative will meet you outside Customs & Immigration. Go to the Regal Riverside Hotel.

January 9 Hong Kong Tour prepaid tour.

January 10 Leave Hong Kong for Nanchang on China Eastern flight MU 5018 (11:10-12:40)
Welcomed by CCAI guide Evelyn

Your CCAI guide will be giving you detailed instructions regarding your daily schedule and paperwork.

Receive your child at the hotel this afternoon! Congratulations

January 11 Adoption Registration, Notarization and apply for your child’s passport this afternoon. The passport fee will be collected at the Registration Office. It takes 5 working days to issue the passport. Please note that your adoption is finalized at the time of registration. After this point, the Chinese government prohibits you from relinquishing your child in China.

Trip to the local department store for baby supplies.

January 12 Rest or optional city tours. Ask Evelyn for details.

January 13 Waiting for child’s adoption paperwork to be completed.

January 14 Receive notarized adoption documents this afternoon.

January 15 Receive your child’s Registration Certificate and passport and today. Leave Nanchang for Guangzhou on China Eastern Flight Met by your CCAI representative Jason and Jocelyn Go to the White Swan Hotel.

January 16 Have your child’s visa physical and Hague-required immunizations and visa photo taken this morning. Please meet Jason and Jocelyn at the designated location. Bring child supplies (water, diaper, snack, etc.). Be ready to go!

January 17 Free time. Rest. Shop. Please ask Jason and Jocelyn for details

January 18 Meet with Jason and Jocelyn today to prepare paperwork for the Consulate appointment: Please bring all of your documents and passports to this meeting. Jason and Jocelyn will have the required forms for you to fill out.

January 19 Free time. Rest. Shop. Please ask Jason and Jocelyn for details

January 20 Today is your Consulate appointment. Jason & Jocelyn will deliver your visa packets to the U.S. Consulate Adoption Unit.

January 21 Go to the U.S. Consulate to take the oath in the afternoon. Please bring as few items with you to the Consulate as possible. Backpacks, baby bags or purses are not permitted inside the Consulate. Cell phones or cameras are not allowed in the U.S. Consulate or on the U.S. Consulate grounds.

January 22 Go to the U.S. Consulate to receive your child’s visa packet

January 23 Please check out of your hotel room and be ready to go by the designated time. Thanks!

Bullock - Leave Guangzhou for Shanghai, on China Southern Flight CZ3611@ 9:30

DeLore – Leave Guangzhou for Tokyo on China Southern Flight CZ385 @ 10:20 Booked by you.

Childress - Leave Guangzhou for Hong Kong, on China Southern Flight CZ303 @ 11:10

Rast/Draper, Finn, Freeman, Howard, Russell –
Leave Guangzhou for Hong Kong, on China Southern Flight CZ303 @ 11:10

Ferry & Lee - Leave Guangzhou for Hong Kong, on China Southern Flight

Leave Hong Kong, Beijing or Shanghai for the U.S.

Finally -Travel Plans!!

On Tuesday, December 29, Sheri at CCAI let us know that she had received our Consulate Appointment, and that we had to be in Hong Kong on January 8! We have been waiting for this appointment date since October 13! To arrive in Hong Kong on that day, we have to leave the U.S. on the 6th. You don't have to look at a calendar to know that time was short, so we immediately called Todd Gallinek, a travel agent specializing in adoption trips. I can't praise Todd enough for the work he did to get us the best route and ticket prices. I feel like Todd and I became best friends after all of the phone calls and emails we exchanged over a 2-day period.

We are scheduled to fly from St. Louis on Wednesday at 3:20 in the afternoon on American Airlines. After changing planes in Chicago, we will land in San Francisco. At 12:05 (yes, midnight), we leave San Francisco on Cathay Pacific Airlines for a 15 hour international flight to Hong Kong. Our total travel time will be around 24 hours. Due to crossing through several time zones, we will arrive on Friday morning at 7 am.

We'll meet the other CCAI families (there are 10 of us) in Hong Kong, spend Saturday getting to know each other and preparing for Sunday. Sunday, you see, is when we leave Hong Kong for Nanchang and...have Gotcha Day! Gotcha Day is a well-known day for any family that has adopted a child. This is the day we get Carly! From this day forward, Carly will be in our arms!

Now, we will have two things to celebrate on January 10th. Gotcha Day and Sandy's birthday. I think this is the best birthday present she will every receive.

A Baby Shower!

The teachers at Mammoth Spring Elementary planned a beautiful baby shower for us. They went overboard on the gifts! Thank you!

A Send-Off Party!

On December 6th, our friends at church threw a Send-Off Party for us. Their generosity and excitement for us was overwhelmingly touching. They had 2 beautiful cakes, finger foods, and a money tree that was in full "bloom"! We are truly blessed to have such friends. Thank you!