All Appointments DONE!

So apparently it's New Year's Eve here. My plans: try to stay up until 9:00 p.m. and then go to sleep. It won't be the New Year in the U.S. until 1 p.m. tomorrow, so it's all just confusing anyway! Before I give you the play by play of today, I want to thank anyone who has prayed for me in the last 24 hours. I have seriously, seriously felt your prayers. Yesterday was a tough day, but today was so much better - I feel your prayers lifting my spirits and I'm so appreciative!

 

Today we had our American Consulate appointment. I have to say it was...interesting. There were probably about 10 families all in the waiting area. We took an oath as a group, repeating after some guy talking through a window. And then they looked at our paperwork and we left. Miss Luyana did not have a fun time. There was a play area there and I think putting 10 or so kids who have just left orphanages together with a few toys is not a great idea - I'm certain every one of them reverted back to orphanage behavior. Several meltdowns, kids pushing other kids, etc., etc. Luyana had a major meltdown and even started pinching and hitting me which she has not done before. But she actually seemed fine after we got back to our hotel room and she took a nap. By the way, her hitting and pinching are so light and gentle, I barely realized she was trying to be mean :)

 

Here is my cutie dressed up for her appointment today:

 

 

We were only allowed to take a picture outside; no cameras allowed inside. Here you can see my bad attempt at hiding the snack cup:

 

 

We have really enjoyed Lindsey and Marcus being here; its nice to have friends to hang out with while we're here. They are leaving tomorrow, which is a bummer! Here are our girls strolling along by themselves:

 

 

Lindsey and I with our sweeties. It looks like we're both meanly digging our fingernails into their stomachs, but really we're just tickling them so they'll smile. Really.

 

 

We then met up with some girls from our China adoption Facebook group. It was nice to meet them in person!

 

 

 In the China adoption world, this is the classic picture that pretty much everyone takes. Your adopted child standing with this statue. It's in a place where most adoptive families go to shop, so you can't miss it. So here it is! Miss Ellie and Miss Luyana were very cooperative :) Please excuse Luyana's bow placement (bow placement compliments of daddy).

 

This is currently my favorite picture of Luyana. She was checking out the river and the boats. She even said boat! Well more like bo-ta, but not bad for picking up a second language!

 

My little Daddy's girl has quickly turned into Mama's girl, so here we're working on re-bonding with daddy. They both sang the whole walk home. Luyana's singing was adorable. Mark's singing brought a little more attention than I was comfortable with - but all in all, adorable.

 

Tomorrow I have a Chinese friend coming into the city to see us. We've kept in touch since we became friends back when I was teaching in Beijing. I haven't seen her in about 9 years, so it will be so nice to see her again! Two full more days in China and then we can begin our trek home. YAY! 

 

 

Cute Videos as a Reward for Reading This Post

I've come to the point where I just think I've been here a little too long. I rarely know what day it is; I NEVER know what time it is. I feel like I'm walking in a cloud of confusion, thankful that we have a guide telling me where to be and when. On Sunday (I think it was Sunday anyway, that is, if today is Monday, but that cannot be confirmed), we went to some museum for some tomb. I don't really know what it was all about except that 2 year olds and museums don't really go together. Mark actually loved it and I loved that they had a little play area, so Mark soaked it all in and we played.

All ready to go in my new kicks:

 

Before the museum, they made us watch a video. I listened to approximately none of it. Instead I made faces with and took pictures of this girl:

I guess this was the top of the tomb and lots of people had thrown money in there. I kept my money for myself. I don't think those dead people really need it.

Mark totally into it, even listening to the head set.

 

Very thankful for the play area!

Besides the play area, Luyana really liked these steps. She is not good at steps at all, she has very low muscle tone in her legs, but she sure tried with ALL her might!

 

This is the other couple that we met before we came and have become friends with. Their little Ellie is A-DORABLE.

With Miss Luyana, she has some medical and physical issues that we weren't quite expecting.  Yesterday was a difficult day as we were thinking about all the unknowns and what this might mean for all of us. But we are grateful for the extra special prayers and notes we received. We are really looking forward to getting her home, getting to a doctor, and finding out all that is going on. I'm thankful for all the people who are praying for us, God has given us so much peace about the situation today and we are beyond grateful that God chose to use us to help her get everything that she needs.

Today we bought her some squeaky shoes, which um, she thinks are the greatest things in the world. Video below (please excuse our messy hotel room). Also a video of Mark teaching her to say 'I love you'. :)

Medical Appointment = bu hao

'Bu hao' means bad, not good in Chinese.

This morning we had Luyana's medical appointment and TB test. She hated every single minute of it. Here is the before picture, before she knew the terror that was about to ensue:

 

And then she reacted to everything the same way Little Buddy does at the doctor. Even getting weighed and having your head measured it torture, pure torture. I didn't feel too bad at first since they weren't actually hurting her. But after the typical checking, they whisked her away without us to give her a TB test. She started SCREAMING and I could hear her through the door, and of course I started crying too. It seemed to take about an hour, but I think it was probably 5 minutes. She came right to me after and cried off an on until we got to the van where she promptly fell asleep. It really was no fun.

 

She seemed ok after we got back to our hotel and woke up. Here she is in her new favorite spot, looking out the window at the 'da DOO DOOs" (cars).

 

 

And just because she's cute:

 

Now that we're in Guangzhou, we are with two other couples from our agency. One couple we met while we were in the states and we have become friends; it is so nice to have them here! We walked to get dinner and do some shopping. We walked through a pet market to get to the dinner/shopping area:

 

 

We ate dinner and then Mark found a new lady friend:

 

We feel like Luyana regressed a little today. I think the change in hotels and the medical appointment were all a little much for her. And to top it all off, we figured out today that she has a couple of molars coming in. Poor girl can't catch a break! I'm so looking forward to getting her home and getting into a good routine so she can get settled and not have to experience so much change all the time. The positive thing is that she is really coming to me now for comfort which she would not do at first. Like Mark said, everyday seems to be two steps forward, one step back. But it's all progress.

 



We're in Guangzhou!

Friday was basically a day to pack up one hotel room, wait in the airport for a long time, get on a plane for 2 hours, and get settled into our 3rd and last hotel room.  

 

Saying goodbye to our guide, Feng, in Nanjing:

 

Waiting in the airport. Snacks, always snacks:

 

First plane ride: successful! She got a little antsy and didn't like the seatbelt, but I am somewhat optimistic for the plane ride home.  Praying, praying, praying that she sleeps a loooong time on our flight home next Friday!

 

 

We are definitely seeing some baby steps with this little girl. Today was the first time she seemed to care that I left a room. I think being in a new environment, and being tired from missing a nap made her a little more needy. Which is good, she needs to be needy so that she realizes that we will be there for her! She is also starting to show her naughty side. Hitting, throwing things, etc. and then giving us a HUGE smile. You know, typical 2-year-old stuff that we're happy to see. And I'd like to challenge the person who told us that she is quiet, laid-back, and doesn't like strangers. She babbles and sings almost constantly. She is always on the move and loves to play. She loves watching people and will wave to strangers when prompted. She loves to go, go, go. She calls her stroller (and cars and any other mode of transportation) a "da DOO DOO" - she often points to her stroller and says 'da DOO DOO' and points to the door like, come on guys, let's go do something!

 

Today is actually Saturday morning and we're headed to Luyana's TB test and medical appointment. She has to get the TB test alone, so that should be interesting, not looking forward to that!

 

One more thing, if our last hotel room was big, this one is a palace. It's great and we are right in the middle of tons of little shops. Can't wait to do some shopping this afternoon! Goodnight from Guangzhou!

Sightseeing/Last Full Day in Nanjing

Let's just go ahead and start out the day with a cute picture of a cute girl in a cute hat:

Today our guide took us to a 600 year old garden and a Confucius Temple.

 

Here is Confucius peeking at you: 

Love this one:

Snack time!

Luyana seems to be doing a little better today. We made up a hugging game and while she still doesn't reciprocate hugs, she thinks the game is fun. She even let me hold her so she could fall asleep for a nap (she has refused naps since we got her) and I think the nap did her some good (and Mark and I since we slept too!). The poor girl also has some serious digestive issues which we think is probably giardia from drinking bad water. You can find Mark 4-6 times per day sneaking through the hotel hallways looking for the maid, and when she's not looking, he throws the very potent diaper in her cart and then scrams without being noticed.

Tomorrow we fly to Guangzhou which is where Luyana will have her medical appointment and American Embassy appointment. Then we'll be waiting for her American visa so we can go home! We are enjoying our time here, but we CANNOT wait to go home. We miss Camden so much and can't wait to have our family all together!

We received a huge blessing this week that I forgot to share about!! A few months ago, we sent a USB drive to Luyana's orphanage and asked them to upload any photos they had of Luyana onto it and give it back to us. We did and received many photos, even from when she was a baby. Here are some of my favorites:

Orphanage Visit

Today was not my favorite day so far. Today we visited Luyana's orphanage. She was in a good orphanage, but an orphanage is an orphanage. I just felt uncomfortable. I didn't want to confuse Luyana by being there and I worried about the all the people grabbing at her to hold her. Seeing so many babies lying in cribs made me feel like I was barely even making a dent in the problem and that was overwhelming. But before all that, we had breakfast, which I'm certain is one of Luyana's favorite parts of the day. When she sees me coming with her plate of food, she gets giddy with excitement and starts bouncing up and down.

 

When we arrived at the orphanage, the sign welcomed Luyana back to visit: I can't remember what exactly they told me it said!

 

 

Here is the room where she slept:

 

 



One last walk around the playroom until she was descended upon by a gaggle of adoring nannies:

 

 

And here they are:

 

 

They fed us a meal, which was superbly awkward. I keep analyzing it to try to figure out why it was so awkward. Was it because the orphanage director made eye contact with me maybe once? Or because Mark and I were the only ones to ever initiate talk? Or maybe it was because they kept shoving food in Luyana's mouth that I knew she didn't want to eat? Probably all of those things and honestly, I just wanted to get out there as fast as possible and get back to our hotel room.

 

This is the worst part. As we were getting ready to leave, someone told Luyana to say "goodbye". She looked at Mark and I and waved bye bye. Break. My. Heart. They handed her back to us and she cried a little, but then quickly held it together. It was then I realized that we really don't mean much to her yet, which makes sense since she has had a fairly steady stream of caregivers in her short life. She doesn't understand that this is forever and I don't know when she will. While she is a cute, funny, bubbly, and smart little girl, she also is displaying several institutional behaviors that just hurt to observe. And when we try to hug her, she will stiffen up and she will stick her arms straight out at her side. This isn't really a surprise to us, we knew this is what happens when you adopt a child from an orphanage. But now it is very personal and I don't like seeing the results of institutional care on a child, MY child, at all. Anyway, we know we have a lot of hard work ahead of us. Thank you all for your prayers...we feel them every day! 

 

And because I don't want to end on a depressing note, especially on Christmas, here is Luyana's other favorite part of the day...lotion time! The girl would put lotion on all day if you let her!

 

 

 

It's Official!

When we got Luyana yesterday, we had 24 hours to decide if we really wanted to adopt her. Um, YES, we do, we really do. So this morning we went back to the Civil Affairs office to finalize the adoption. There were several other families there, which was fun to see! But first we had to take a van ride and this little girl does NOT like to ride in cars. She started crying immediately and saying "Baba, baba, baba," and then she was fine once she was with daddy. :)

In order to make it official, we had to put a red thumbprint over our signatures.

Even Luyana had to do her thumbprint. Adorable.

We kept having to fill out the same thing on different papers. Here Mark was telling me they were testing us to see if there were any discrepancies; apparently jet lag makes me think he is VERY funny.

And with that she is officially our daughter!!

Here she is with one of the orphanage directions and one of Luyana's nannies. They had to be there in case we changed our minds (yeah, right!).

Like I said before, total daddy's girl; there is no doubt about it. She will go to either of us for comfort. When she saw her nanny, she was happy to see her, but even happier to come back to Mark and I.

 

Today we learned that she loves bananas and orange juice. And we are so proud to say she learned her first English word and says "banana" as clear as day! She is smart and we found out she knows how to point to her nose, eyes, ears, mouth, and head if you say them in Chinese. She loves baths. Speaking of baths, she needed one today after a certain diaper explosion and as we were getting out, she saw one of the snacks that the orphanage sent with her. She really wanted it and who I am to say no to this cutie? It was some kind of chocolate pie, and well, the bath was pretty much pointless.