Final Paperwork & A Field Trip

October 15, 2015

Today was our last full day in Guiyang.  Jerry brought us our finalized Chinese adoption documents this afternoon (YAY!) and tomorrow afternoon we board a plane for Guanghzou to go through the final appointments necessary to bring Isaiah home.  These appointments are the US side of an international adoption, according to China Isaiah Jiang Lang Ross is our son!  It will be fun to return to Guangzhou.  This is where we spent two weeks of our adoption trip for Zeke.

Isaiah had a rough night last night and didn't get much sleep (neither did Randy or I) so he and Randy did not accompany us on our field trip today.  Zeke has been having sleepovers in Mimi's room so the two of them were just fine!  Zeke has had a great time getting to know his Mimi better and she has been an amazing help to have along.  We knew traveling with two littles would be tricky but Isaiah is needing so much of our time that it would be very easy for Zeke to get lost in the shuffle.  Mimi is making sure that doesn't happen.  We love you Mimi!  Mimi, Zeke and I joined Jerry on an excursion to Qian Ling Park and Hong Fu Temple today.  These two places are located in the same vicinity and offered some interesting views into Chinese traditions.  

Qian Ling Park sits in the hills near a lake sharing the same name.  It is an interesting place to visit because every flat paved area you see is occupied by some sort of activity.  These activities ranged from Tai Chi groups practicing, badminton, ladies dancing for exercise, tradition Chinese top spinning, chain practice (see photos), and just hanging out.  The chains are actually replicas of weapons used in warfare.  They were long and made a firecracker sounding pop when they whipped through the air.  Yikes!

 

At one side of this park is a road that leads to the Hong Fu Temple.  The road winds through  a beautiful forest that is known as the "Monkey Park."  The area is FILLED with Macaque monkeys.  They were everywhere!  In the trees, walking with us on the road, and running up and down the low stone wall along the side of the road.  It was crazy to be so close.  Jerry warned us not to have any food or drinks in our hands because the monkeys would not hesitate to come up and try to take them.  At one point we saw a monkey following a lady who had her coat draped over her arm.  After a few seconds of following he reached up and grabbed the hood of the coat and wouldn't let go.  She gave him a piece of her mind and he had second thoughts.  Zeke wasn't too sure about the screeches the monkeys were making but he enjoyed watching their antics.



At the top of the winding monkey road was the Hong Fu Temple.  This is a Buddhist temple built during the Ming Dynasty (mid-1500's).  It was built in this location because the monk who first came to the area thought the surrounding hills possessed "talents" or powers.  It was interesting to learn more about this part of the Chinese culture.  Jerry noted that many of the people coming to burn incense probably weren't Buddhist but came because of culture and tradition instead.

Never knew an incense burner could be so big!

 There were two pools where you could toss a coin in for luck.  The catch was that your coin had to land in one of the small containers under the water (there were about 8 in this pool).  Looking in it was obvious that very few were successful with this challenge but Zeke wanted to try!  Jerry and Stripes were there to help him out.

There was one building in the temple compound that was a bit unsettling.  Apparently there are 500 different Buddha's and every person born has one assigned to them depending on the day, month, and year of birth.  We walked into this building and there were 500 Buddha's on display (and these things weren't small!).  This picture shows one corridor of that building.  Zeke and I lasted about 2 minutes inside before he turned to me and said, "Mommy, this is kind of scary.  I don't like it in here."  I have to say that I agreed with him!





Thank you (again!) for your continued prayers.  They are helping!!  We aren't sure how Isaiah is going to handle the two hour flight tomorrow or picking up and moving to a new location so if you think of us, please pray.  Thank you!!

Love and Hugs,
Randy, Robyn, Zeke & Isaiah

P.S  A few extras . . . 

   

 This was our dinner tonight.  We ordered take-out from the amazing little restaurant next to the hotel.  Isaiah wanted to eat but he wanted to eat at the nightstand standing up rather than with us at the table.  Okay, that works.

Our Cute Little Snuggler

Rest Day

October 14, 2015

We did not have any adoption appointments today and our guide was busy this morning so we got off to a slow start (which was fine with us). 

Pre-breakfast Drinks

Daddy and His Boys

Isaiah seems to get antsy when we stay in our room for too long so we decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and go for a walk.  There is a river that goes through Guiyang which is not far from our hotel.  On either side there are several parks and landscaped areas.  This is where we headed.  On the way we came across this gentleman creating beautiful Chinese characters using what basically looked like a large Q-Tip.  It had a hose attached to the top and he had a water bag on his back.  We don't know what he was writing but the art of the characters was amazingly detailed considering the device he was using.  By the time we walked back all of the characters had dried and were gone.

Calligrapher

Chinese Characters with Water

We ended up in Peoples Square, where we found this unusual gold structure (you could go up to the top but we chose to avoid the stairs).  We asked Jerry later and he said it was designed to replicate a wind instrument commonly used in the Guiyang area.  Under the structure was an amphitheater where dancers were practicing.  We also saw many Tai Chi groups practicing, an interesting ball and net activity being practiced (it looked more like a dance than a sport) and people waiting for enough wind to fly their kites. 

Walking with Daddy

Catching a Ride
(Isaiah does NOT like the stroller 
and he was perfectly content to hide.)

When we returned to the hotel we had lunch and relaxed for a few hours.

Noodles for Lunch

Later in the afternoon we went to the Jiaxiu Building which was built in the mid-1500's.  The architecture reminded us of the buildings we saw in Beijing at the Forbidden City and Summer Palace in 2013.  The Jiaxiu Building is set in the middle of a bridge that leads to a larger compound of buildings.  Inside the compound there were several different courtyards and gates.  In one of the courtyards there was a member of a local artist group who was hand painting fans.  We chose to get one as a representation of the time spent in Isaiah's home city of Guiyang (we have several paintings from Zeke's province in our living room).  

  

Gotcha Day +1

October 13, 2015

Today we went back to the Civil Affairs Adoption Office to finalize Isaiah's adoption and make our final adoption payments.  Since were headed back to the same place that Gotcha Day took place we were anticipating some intense emotions from Isaiah.  (Zeke and Mimi stayed at the hotel for this trip and explored some of the areas around our hotel.)  We were correct in our assumption.

When we walked into the lobby of the building Isaiah clung a little tighter and started looking back and forth between Randy and I.  Almost like, "REALLY?!"  This continued as we got closer to the office. He was able to hold it together for about 15 minutes and then it was just too much.  We had warned the other AWAA family with us that he might become inconsolable but they were still surprised when the wailing began.  Their little girl, also from a foster family, did not have any of the same reactions when leaving her foster mom or returning to the office.  It goes to show that Isaiah was in a loving place!  

At one point when holding Isaiah he started pointing.  I went where he pointed and the brilliant little thinker led me down the hall and back to the elevators!  When we went back into the office he went to Randy and held his arms up and then pointed to the backpack and then to the door.  He seemed to be saying "Get the bag and let's go Daddy!"  It was an emotional hour and a half.

After we came back to the hotel he wanted to be very close to me and was one sad little boy.  He likes to snuggle so we were on the bed and he buried his face in my chest and eventually fell asleep.  After he was asleep I was able to roll him off of me so he could sleep.  He is a "mover" when he sleeps so this was more comfortable for both of us!  He slept for quite a while and ended up in the same position Zeke often does, hands behind his head.  What a cutie! 

If you are wondering, he is still in his clothes from yesterday because they are his last tie to his foster home and family.  They are familiar to him in feel and smell and we don't want to strip him of everything he knows at once.  He has confirmed our decision to wait by letting us know (through grunts and words we don't understand) that he doesn't want different clothes.

The afternoon was a mixture of small smiles and LOTS of crying/whining.  Isaiah has language but unfortunately we don't understand the words he is using.  He speaks a different dialect than standard Mandarin so the translator app is of no use.  He does seem to be picking up the meaning behind the words we say rather quickly though.  We can asking him to do something using words and gestures and he can usually figure out what we are saying or asking him to do.  We have also figured out that he could pretty much do whatever he wanted with his foster family.  It is apparent by his actions that he had few boundaries, is by nature a "tester," and will push his new boundaries as far as we will let him.  He and his big brother are more alike in this way than we thought they might be! :)

We ended our day with a joyous celebration due to the arrival of our luggage!  We were told they would arrive on a flight early this evening but didn't believe it until we saw it.  There is no way these bags should have so many flight tickets on them.  Randy and Deb went with our Jerry to the airport to pick them up and even our guide (usually soft-spoken) was getting irritated with all of the questions and hoops.  We didn't know he had a "firm" voice but now we know he does!  We are happy to have clean clothes to wear tomorrow!  It's the small things . . . .

Thank you for your continued prayers!
Robyn

Gotcha Day!

October 12, 2015

We were hoping and praying that our bags would arrive at the airport last night as told on the Delta website.  Our guide Jerry picked Randy up at 9:30 and they went to the airport to see if they were on the designated flight.  Nope.  No bags.  We crashed and then resumed making phone calls this morning to see what we could find out.  So far either people don't answer their phones or they don't have a clue where to start looking for the missing bags.  Our assumption is that they are still in Beijing or they are sitting in a room here in Guiyang and we just haven't gotten to the right person that knows it!  (As most of know from my last FB post our bags were found in Beijing and should be on a plane an coming to us now!)

We ran into anther adopting family (different agency) this morning at breakfast and they offered to share clothes (I have a clean shirt to wear thanks to them) and gave us some pull-ups for Zeke.  The generosity of others warms our hearts!

Today was the BIG day!  Our guide, Jerry, picked us up at 9:30 and we made our way to the Civil Affairs Adoption office.  We weren't sure exactly what to expect but were praying we would get to meet Isaiah's foster parents during the process.  They actually beat us there!  Unlike Zeke's adoption, we were the only family in the room when we met Isaiah.  It was a much more personal experience. (There were about 15 families in the room on Zeke's Gotcha Day.)  We were able to watch Isaiah interact with his foster parents and ask specific questions about his schedule, routines, and habits.  You could tell that they loved our little boy well.

Initially Isaiah didn't want anything to do with us.  We were expecting this.  Since we didn't have his special backpack with toys just for him Zeke made his first big brother sacrifice (with a little convincing) and shared some of his toys with Isaiah.  We have another car lover!  Isaiah was also very interested in daddy's camera and all of the buttons there were to push.  He enjoyed looking at pictures of himself and his foster parents.  While he was doing this they quietly left the room.  It took awhile for him to realize they were gone and when he did we had a very distraught little boy on our hands.  He wailed, cried and repeated "Ba-Ba" over and over.  He was obviously VERY attached to his foster dad/grandpa.  This bodes well for his family skills with us but shows the power of his grief at the same time.

We completed the necessary paperwork amidst his wails and then went back to the hotel.  Our evening was a cycle of quiet and sadness.  You could see his little mind trying to process what had just happened and not quite being able to make it all make sense.  It was a joyous day for us as we have a second little boy to call our own but a tragic day for Isaiah because he lost the only family he has ever known.



Brothers:




Family Picture: 

L to R: Sam, Baba, Mama, Isaiah, Mommy, Daddy & Zeke

We were blessed to be able to meet Sam at our Gotcha Day meeting.  He found out Isaiah was being adopted and asked if he could come and meet his new family.  Sam and his wife are Americans who are part of the foster care network in Guiyang.  They initially helped run the network but now host medically fragile foster children until they are healthy enough to be placed with Chinese foster parents.  Isaiah lived with Sam and his wife until he was roughly 6 months old.  At that time he was placed with the "grandparents" pictured.  The amazing thing about meeting Sam?  He has baby pictures of Isaiah!  He will be sending them to us soon.  It is rare to get baby pictures of an internationally adopted child.  We are very excited to have this piece of Isaiah's history!

Unexpected Adventures

October 9, 10 & 11, 2015

We left Seattle on time and arrived in Shanghai having lost 15 hours of time and to find out that our bags had been put on a flight to Beijing rather than our plane. The reason they gave was because our plane was too heavy so they needed to remove bags to lighten the load.  The next flight out was to Beijing so that's where the bags went.  Okay...... 

Zeke at the hotel in Guilin with Stripes.
Randy is in the background with Jackie
(left of him) waiting to get rooms.

We boarded our flight to Guiyang around 6:00 on Saturday night and tried to get some sleep to help with the time transition. We woke up to an announcement in Chinese and loud murmurs throughout the cabin from the other passengers.  The pilot said he could not land in Guiyang due to fog and rerouted to an airport in Guilin (a 45 minute flight or 2 hour train ride away). Hmmmmm, what now?  The airport was chaos because we were not the only flight that had been rerouted or grounded. It didn't help that none of the airline employees spoke enough English to let us know what was happening.  We hung out for awhile trying to figure out what to do and keeping an eye on the other passengers from our flight.  We waited awhile and then approached the desk again and asked if anyone spoke English.  There was a young businessman named Jackie who responded and filled us in on what was going on. We thanked him and went to sit down and wait.  A few minutes later he joined us.  He ended up being our impromptu guide for the rest of the evening.  When the airport employees figured out what to do with all of us Jackie made sure we got on the correct bus to the hotel and helped us get rooms for the night. A godsend for sure! He chose to take the train to Guiyang early the next morning rather than wait for the afternoon flight so we said goodbye to him last night. This morning we had breakfast at the hotel and tried to figure out when the bus would arrive to take us back to the airport. Thankfully another English speaker saw our struggles and jumped in to help. It seemed like every time we found ourselves in a situation on our unexpected adventure where we REALLY needed someone to translate for us, someone would appear asking if we needed help.  We have met some real life angels in the last two days!

A bus arrived to pick us up from our hotel and then took us back toward the airport. It as quite a different experience driving through Guilin in the daylight than it was in the dark.  There were amazing hills of rock, buildings being built everywhere, and more people than we expected.  When we pulled into town last night there weren't any cars on the road and most everything around us was dark.  It was unexpected to see how big the city really was!  After driving for awhile we pulled up to another hotel and questioned what was happening.  Why weren't we at the airport?  It came a pleasant surprise that we were stopping for a complimentary lunch. Nice! Then back on the bus and to the airport. Dejavu! Back to the same waiting area we were in last night . . .  


A 45 minute plane ride and we are here!  Our guide Jerry met us at the airport and laid out our schedule for the next four days. We thought Gotcha Day would be today but found out it will be tomorrow morning instead.  This actually works out better since we are more travel weary than expected (due to our extended travel adventure), we don't have our luggage (it will arrive later tonight), and do not have some of the things we want to take with us when we meet Isaiah for the first time.  So, the rest of our evening will include relaxing at our hotel, finding something to eat for dinner and enjoying the view from our 180 degree rounded window.  The room they originally gave us was tiny and included 2 twin beds and a chair.  No way we were going to have enough space for two little boys let alone two more beds!  They had a larger city view room available so we upgraded to save the sanity of everyone involved.  The view is AMAZING!

Thank you for your continued prayers!  Watch for a Gotcha Day post next! :)
R, R, Z & I

We're Off!

It's here.  It's really here.  I write these words with a measure of shock and a huge dose of excitement!  I've been packing, getting paperwork together, talking to Zeke about having a brother and going on the big airplane for the last week but the excitement hadn't hit.  Well, it hit today!

Before I left work today I explained to my students (again) that I was going to China with my family to get our son Isaiah and that I wouldn't be back to teach them until January (but I would visit before then) and we all said goodbye.  Once they were at recess (I have been working half time this week) my job share partner and I went over a few more things, I walked out of my classroom, said goodbye to several co-workers, and walked out the front doors of Mountain Way.  THAT is when I started shaking, my stomach started doing somersaults and I couldn't stop smiling.  WE ARE GOING TO CHINA TO GET ISAIAH! 


If you are following our journey there is one more traveler you need to meet.  This is Stripes!  Stripes was given to Zeke by Grandma Youngquist as a travel companion but there were some strings attached.

String #1:  Stripes has to come back home with Zeke (to make sure they BOTH make it back).
String #2:  Zeke has to take pictures of Stripes at all of the different places he gets to visit while he is in China so he can share them with Grandma when he gets home.

Similar to Flat Stanley, Stripes is going on the adventure of a lifetime and he will have the pictures to prove it!  Thank you for sending Stripes to China with Zeke Grandma!

The bags are packed (with the exception of a few things that will get thrown in last minute) and Stripes is watching over them for the night.  We are hoping to sleep well tonight (we'll see if the nerves let us) and we head to the airport mid-morning.  IT'S HERE!

The Countdown

It is Friday night and the house is quiet.  The boys (husband and son) are slowly drifting to sleep and I writing a short post before settling in for some much needed quiet time.

For almost a month Zeke has been counting down the days and crossing off boxes until the day we get on the "big airplane."  As he crossed off tonight's box I started thinking about what is coming. This time next Friday we will be halfway through a flight to Shanghai, China where we will get on another plane that will take us to Guiyang, Guizhou, the city where Isaiah currently lives. It is surreal to think about and there are some big realities staring me in the face. 

1.  I'm going to be the Mommy of TWO little boys (Lord, help me!).  
2.  I need to check and recheck to make sure I have all of the required paperwork (a folder about an inch thick) ready to pack.
3.  Begin the packing extravaganza for a crazy two weeks in China. 
4.  Get through my last four days of teaching (SO thankful for an amazing job share partner who is going to pick up where I am leaving off with 20 first graders).
5.  Remember to breathe.
6.  Get as much sleep pre-China as possible. Sleep will be sketchy at best while there.
7.  And whatever else I am forgetting because nothing is sticking in my brain right now unless I write it down. HA!

We will see and experience some amazing cultural things while we are in China, but it is NOT a vacation.  It is an utterly exhausting emotional roller coaster ride in a foreign country.  We will be taking care of a (most likely) clingy five year old who doesn't want to share his Mommy and Daddy with a sibling, a two year old who has no clue what is going on, who we are, and won't be able to communicate with us, and if we have the time and energy left, taking care of ourselves.  It makes me tired just thinking about it.  It also makes me wonder if we are crazy! Thankfully we know beyond a doubt that God is bringing our family of four together and we can trust that in the midst of the chaos He will be there to lean on.

This journey has been a nine month "paper pregnancy" and we are thankful it is close to completion (although this is one tiny step in the grand scheme of things).  SO MANY people have been instrumental in our process.  Prayers, donations, encouraging words, sharing in our excitement . . . it has meant the world to us!  I will do my best to keep the blog updated as much as possible while we are in China so you can meet and get to know Isaiah.

Thank you for your continued prayers!