before we head home. It's also the longest that we stay in any one
place. We won't fly out for another week. Guangzhou is home to the
US Consulate that handles all the immigration visas for adoptees, so
that's why we leave from here rather than back up to Beijing. That's
also why our stay is so long. Our appointment with the Consulate is
on Wednesday and, assuming everything checks out, it takes a couple
more days for them to issue the necessary visas and such.
We arrived in Guangzhou on Friday evening. This time, our travel day
was uneventful. Thank you God. We didn't fly out of Chongqing until
5:40, so we had most of the day on Friday to take care of odds and
ends like laundry and getting a very important document: Tori's China
Passport. Even though Tori is now officially our daughter in China,
she is still a foreigner in the US, so she needs that passport, along
with a mountain of paperwork and forms in order to be admitted into
the US.
Frank arrived at our hotel at 2:00 for check out. Then he took us
sightseeing in Chongqing to kill some time before driving us to the
airport. We had some great conversations with Frank about family,
culture, our countries, politics, economics and Christianity. We
really made a great connection with Frank and feel like he may be
someone we maintain a lifetime friendship with. Fritz had some great
moments with him on Wednesday during our drive in the Chongqing
countryside and shared a lot about his personal faith. Dee had
brought a Bible to give away to someone in China and we all knew that
Frank was the guy. We said goodbye to him at the airport and gave him
some gifts along with the Bible. He was grateful and so were we.
So there we were at the airport. All six of us. Yes six! Christina
held Tori the whole time and Tori traveled quite well. There were a
few moments that she voiced her opinion when she wanted to get down
and move around, but otherwise, she was great. Seeing her snuggled up
to Christina or locking eyes with us is an answer to so many prayers.
She doesn't avoid eye contact. In fact, she seeks it out and will
just stare right at you. It's beautiful. She also does love music.
When she hears music, she looks at you and waves her hand. She wants
you to wave your hand too, so she loves toys that make music. She'll
keep them going to make you wave your hand over and over again. We do
really feel like she is beginning the process of attachment. Keep
praying!
After landing in Guangzhou, Amy, our local guide greeted us after we
got all our bags. Yes all of them! Amy is Lineker's wife so she was
familiar with what we had gone through on Monday. She is friendly,
but in a no nonsense way. She's on a mission at this point. This is
the most stressful part of the trip for her and Lineker as they have
to make sure that all the paperwork for all 17 families is in order
before the Consulate appointments. They also have to make sure none
of us get lost. I imagine it's like herding cats for them. Several
other families arrived at the same time. We started swapping adoption
stories and re-introducing ourselves. It was strange to see all these
families that had now added a member. All the children are wonderful,
but we just can't get enough of Tori. Since the moment God impressed
upon us that we should say yes to Tori, He has prepared our hearts to
love her.
We got on the bus and headed to the China Hotel. Guangzhou is a
tropical climate only a few hours drive from Hong Kong. Definitely a
more international cosmopolitan feel here. Lots of Middle Easterners
and Africans. A few Euro's too. Our hotel is very...swanky. Almost
too much so. It's kind of like classy Vegas, or the type of hotel
James Bond would check into. The elevators and lobbies play smooth
club music 24/7. The decor is pretty modern and angular. It's nice,
but you feel a little out of place as a family.
On Saturday morning, Tessa stayed at the hotel with Fritz and Dee
while Christina, Tori and I headed to Old Town Guangzhou with the
other families to get Tori's Visa photos and her medical exam done.
It was crowded and took much longer than expected. We felt bad for
her, but she did really well considering. She's 6.84 KG and 73
centimeters. You do the math. After the exam, we went to a nearby
department store to pick up groceries and baby supplies. Department
stores in Asia are curious this way. You can buy sports apparel on
floor five, and then pick up your milk and eggs on floor four. Go
figure. The long day out was tough, but I think it helped give us
some isolated time with just her to bond some more. She's smiling at
us and even giggling at times. We were able to find a pacifier that
matched the type she already had. We also grabbed enough formula to
get us through the week.
Back at the hotel, Tessa told us about swimming in the pool with
Grandma and Papa. She had a great time with them and it was a
reminder how wonderful it is to have grandparents on this trip. I had
to head up to Lineker and Amy's room with other parents for a two hour
paperwork session where we wrote our names, addresses, birthdays,
phone numbers, our daughters' old names places of birth and new names
about 30 times. Our brains were mush by the end. No wonder illegal
immigration is such a problem. No one in their right mind would make
it through all the paperwork it takes to do it legally. It's way
easier to just sneak over and find a job.
Fritz and Dee told us some sad news about one of the other AWAA
families. We had noticed they weren't with us at the clinic and
someone had said they ended up not going through with the adoption.
Fritz and Dee had run into them after we left and talked with them for
about an hour. I think they really ministered to them. The child
they went to adopt was reported to have a limb deformity, which they
were prepared for. However, when they received the child, she was
having seizures, had discoloration all over her body and exhibited all
sorts of other symptoms that were not encouraging. They spent twenty-
four hours with her praying and asking God what to do. At times they
didn't know if she was going to make it through the night. They heard
God tell them that they need to advocate for this little girl, but not
adopt her. They would not help her by adopting. They told the
adoption affairs office that this girl needs to be hospitalized so she
can receive the proper care she needs. Then they bravely said that
they would not be adopting her. They have been waiting for this
moment for over three years like us. I can't imagine the heartbreak
and confusion they must have felt. We talked with them later that
night and prayed with them. Their faith is scary strong. They feel
privileged that God used them to help this girl and confront the evil
that was keeping her from being properly cared for. Their names are
Stephen and Roseanne Oliver. Be praying for them as grief is not
linear and they will be grieving for some time.
Today was sightseeing at a folk art museum and a tea house. Actually
a lot more fun than it sounds. The folk art museum is housed in a
grand building built about 100 years ago by the Chen Clan, one of the
wealthiest families in south China during the Qing dynasty. We picked
up some Chinese character calligraphy of Victoria and Tessa's names.
Great keepsakes. The more time we spend together, the more we're just
loving being a family. Tessa had fun sitting around a little table
sampling different Chinese teas. She never liked any of them, but
couldn't wait for the next sample to come.
Back at the hotel we picked up lunch at McDonalds, which is across the
street. We had McD's the night before for dinner without any
issues. But this time, when I brought the bag back to the hotel we
opened our wrappers to find that our burgers had nothing on them.
Just bread and meat. My Big Mac was two all beef patties, ____ ___,
_____, ____, _____, _____ on a sesame seed bun. Tina's burger was the
same story. Apparently when I tried to order our burgers without the
combination meal, they apparently thought I wanted the hamburgers
without anything. I have never had a less satisfying fast food
experience in my life. I eat a Big Mac maybe once every 4-5 years. I
was looking forward to it. This tasted like an elementary school
cafeteria microwave burger. Apparently taste distraction is an
important part of the McDonald's secret.
After lunch we all went down to the pool and swan with Papa and
Grandma. We had a little swimsuit for Tori, but it was still really
saggy on her. It was hilarious. We didn't put her in the water,
because we thought it would be too cold for her, but she loved putting
her legs in and her arms. She was giggling and smiling the whole
time. Papa came up to her blowing bubbles in the water. Right away
she copied him and blew a raspberry right at him. That reminds me.
Tori still loves sharing her food. She has a blast picking up
Cheerios and stuffing them in our mouths. Yesterday, she got
ambitious though and wanted to share what she had already put in her
mouth. She had a cheerio in there and just launched it at me.
Christina and I busted up. Tori smiled too.
We ate dinner together at a Chinese restaurant in the hotel. They do
know how to cook Chinese food over here. Tori was right at home with
this food. It was like everything Christina put in front of her was
an old friend. This kid knows how to eat. At one point at dinner,
she actually wiped her own face with a napkin. That's another little
bit of her personality we're picking up on: she likes things neat.
Tessa was funny at dinner too. She did quite well even though she was
squirmy and there were only chopsticks and an asian soup spoon to work
with. She said 'I just want to stay here all night trying out new
things.'
It's 10:00pm on Sunday night here and I probably need to wrap this up,
but at least we're sort of caught up. We'll work on updated the photo
gallery with new pictures tomorrow and maybe try to put some video up
as well.
Goodnight from Guangzhou.
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