Hannah's first hours with us

Praise God we finally have Hannah.  Our meeting was not a dream meeting but more like the worst case scenario I had semi-prepared for.  She screeched and screamed for I’m not sure how long.  We held her and rocked and sang while she continued to holler.  Finally Eric got her to calm down.  Every time the nannies came into eyesight, she would start up again.  We know this is good in the long run, because she had attached to someone at her orphanage but it is so heart breaking to endure.  I think about what it would be like if someone who didn’t speak any English came and took Gabriel away.  What would his little mind be thinking?   As I cried today at our meeting it wasn’t because the meeting wasn’t as I expected, it was because I was hurting for her and I didn’t know what I could do to help her.

 

By the time we left the Civil Affairs office she had warmed up to us and was smiling.  Great, I thought.  We got some noodles for dinner and she smiled and let both of us feed her.  Once we got to our room, though, she was again, very scared.  We have had alternating wailing for long periods of time with short bursts of happy looks, smiles, and kisses.  She completely clings to me (Tif) and will not let go.  She makes eye contact and holds me rather than fighting me, so I know that is great.  However, it is 10:00 p.m. our time and she has yet to let go of me.  I am tired and Eric is tired.  He is somewhat like a father whose wife is in labor – really wanting to alleviate my pain, but having no way to accomplish it.  I know this is just as hard for him.

 

It’s only Day 1, I keep telling myself, but I am so tired and emotional, it’s hard to keep perspective.  I read in Daniel today for my time in the Word before we got Hannah.  Daniel chose to continue to believe and obey God even when his life was on the line.  He spent the night in the lion’s den.  I have asked God to help me have faith even if it means a night with the lions.  This time the lions are just a scared little girl and my own emotions.  And maybe it will be more than a night.  I also was reading in 2 Timothy these words of Paul:  “So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.  The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.  To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen”  I will trust in my Lord.  He will rescue me. 

 

Well, Hannah is finally asleep as I finish this post.  I pray we can all rest tonight.  His mercies are new every morning. 

Pics part 3

 

Pics part 2

 

Pics part 1

 

Pics part 3

 

Beijing

On Saturday we had our Holt orientation during the morning.  Most of it we already knew but it gave us a chance to meet the folks in our travel group.  We had an awesome Dim Sum lunch together.  We also received the “red book” – a beautiful album of all the most updated information on Hannah as well as 4 new pictures.  I’m going to take a picture of the pictures and post it, but I’m not sure how well they might turn out.  Anyway, she is a big ham.  Smiling a big cheesy grin.  It reminds me of how Gabriel used to crinkle his nose when he would smile or laugh.  I think she’ll fit right in.  Carrie, she is again on the plasma car in one of them.  Thanks for loaning us yours.  She is also wearing a little smocked dress, so my smocking of her new dress was foreordained.  Isn’t that amazing?  I don’t know if that is the dress we’ll get her in, but I hope so.

 

In the afternoon, we were supposed to tour the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square but they were closed due to a rehearsal for a big celebration of China’s 60^th anniversary.  So we went to the Temple of Heaven instead.  It was beautiful, but what we enjoyed the most was the chance to mingle with the locals at the lovely park surrounding the temple.  We were given time to just wander and visit.  Eric played hackysack with a lady and then bought her hackysack for 5 yuan – less than a dollar.  We listened to some musicians, watched Tai Chi, saw a budding pop star singing to grandmas, wondered about a man in Chinese drag dancing with the bellydancers, stood under trees that were more than 300 years old, and yes, used a squatty potty!  I loved the whole afternoon.  The weather was gorgeous in the upper 70s with a breeze.  People were flying kites everywhere.  After our official tour ended, Eric and I headed out on foot around our hotel.  We walked down to the Forbidden City and took pictures by the palace moat.  We met David who was an art professor who made us some calligraphy and yes, sold us one of his student’s paintings.  We knew were going to have to buy something, but it was only $20 for all 3 items, including a silk mounted painting and 2 personalized poems with our names and the date on them.  We had been warned about the art students, but we had a great time watching him and think $20 isn’t bad for what we got.  I love talking to the locals.  We met a couple of students and an older man that asked us to be in pictures with them.  I knew that blondes had their pictures taken, but neither of us are blonde anymore.  I guess we look very American.

 

Nan, we wandered down Wangfujing Street which I think is the shopping street you told us about.  People everywhere.  We had to find either a Chinese hair dryer or a voltage adapter.  We thought we brought the right thing, but we actually brought 2 socket adapters but not a voltage adapter.  Thus, when I turned on my hair dryer I knew something was wrong.  Never has such a force come from that little thing.  We found a voltage adapter and paid way more than we wanted.  We brought it back to the hotel, plugged the hair dryer into it and it started to smoke and catch fire.  I screamed, yanked the cord from the wall and ran out into the hall holding a smoking, smoldering cord with our trashed voltage adapter!!!  We didn’t know what to do.  I wandered around swinging it until it stopped smoking and then returned to the room and placed it on the glass table.  Well, now I have no voltage adapter and no hair dryer!!  Just what you’d expect from one with an electrical engineering degreeJ  Daddy, we need you.  Fortunately, they had one of those in the wall units in the bathroom.  Oh well, it worked OK, not great, but we’ll shop for a Chinese hair dryer once we get to Guangzhou.

 

We leave for Guangzhou in a few hours.  We meet Hannah tomorrow (Monday) at 2:30 p.m. local time in the Civil Affairs Office.  We’re excited.  I hope to post the pictures of our trip so far in the next couple of posts.

 

Lauren, Andrew and Gabriel, we love you so much.  We miss you.  We think about you all the time.  Talk to you soon.

We're in Beijing

We made it to Beijing.  It has been a long day - up for 24 hours, but the trip was really very smooth.  We saw evidence of the majesty of our Lord through his creation from the window of the plane.  As we flew over the glacial ice fields of northern Canada and Greenland, many people stood at the windows in awe.  We took a few pics from the window of the plane.  We'll have to upload them later since we are REALLY tired.  Eric is a walking zombie.  We are heading out to get a bite and then going to sleep.  We were quite impressed with the Beijing airport.  It was huge and beautiful and ran very efficiently.  So far, things have gone easier than I expected.  Thank you for your prayers.  God is good.

The Long Awaited Day

It's finally here. We're leaving for China to bring Hannah home. As I reflect back on the roller coaster of emotions I have experienced while waiting for Hannah, I realize how much God has taught me. All those bumps in the road that seemed huge and very stressful at the time don't look so huge in retrospect. God's perfect time to get Hannah has come. He had it planned all along. He is faithful. He has taught me more about patience and peace, trusting and joy despite circumstances than ever before. Sadly, I am a slow learner and I'll probably have many remedial courses in the future, but I am grateful that God has chosen to keep working on me so that I may be conformed to the image of Christ.

We head out on Thursday morning very early. It turns out that we actually get Hannah on Monday, August 31 (not Sunday as we were originally told.) I've put a brief itinerary in the sidebar. We are meeting Hannah on the exact same day as the family from the Netherlands are getting her little friend. God worked it all out so that neither Hannah nor Emil would wonder why their friend left them behind. God planned for us to meet this family and hopefully begin a relationship. Awesome!

On a lighter note, packing for this trip has been a hoot. We have all these gifts, toys for Hannah, stuff to do in our down time, medicines for whatever ailment befalls us, computer and camera equipment, and oh yeah, a few clothes for each of us. We can only bring 1 checked and 1 carry-on each and they must be under 44 pounds. Sounds like a lot, but it isn't. We weighed and shifted, weighed again, shifted again, and finally found the magic combination. Let's hope our little bathroom scale and the airport scale agree. Here's Eric performing our final weigh-in. Since he hasn't had time to work out this week, that should help.

We covet your prayers for all of us. Thanks for your encouragement. Our next post will be from China!!! Love you all.

More New Pictures & Travel Plans

After waiting for such a long time, it seems like we are in a whirlwind of preparation and updates. We just received another Love Without Boundaries update that had several photos of the children playing happily. It's good to see them playing outside of their cribs. Hannah was in 3 of the photos. Again, her great big smile thrills my soul. I think she must be dancing in that picture. She and Gabe will be quite the dancing duo.

We made our international flight arrangements yesterday, so it was good to get that done. Now we are working with our travel agency on all the in-China arrangements. It turns out that we won't get to tour the Great Wall, because we would have to leave a day earlier. Eric can't take any more time off work that week. Oh well, this trip isn't really about sightseeing anyway. It will just make us more determined to take a family trip back to China someday. We will get to see the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, though. To be honest, I think at that point, I'll just be eager to get on down to Guangzhou and hold Hannah. Someday we would love to tour Guilin, too, but that will have to wait for another trip.

I'm so excited. I can finally go back into "Tif mode" where I function best: lots of things to accomplish in a short period of time. I love that. I am do-er, so I thrive on having a long to-do list that I can check off happily. There is just something so satisfying about checking off a list. Ahh! Waiting has grown me and sanctified me in so many ways, but I still relish being able to GET THINGS DONE. Last night at 9:45 Eric asked me if I wanted to watch a Star Trek (an almost nightly ritual around our house) and I told him that I would rather measure and weigh the luggage that we are planning to take:-) With a knowing grin, he helped me accomplish that to-do and then we watched Star Trek together. Marital bliss.

Travel Dates confirmed

We got the email today. Our travel dates are confirmed. We'll fly out on 8/27 to Beijing. We get Hannah on Sunday, 8/30!!!!!! We'll be heading home on 9/10. So we fly out on my sister's birthday and fly home on my mother's, and we get Hannah on the Lord's Day. How awesome is that! Eric and I are on the phone and computer making travel arrangements, but I just wanted let you know the big picture. He who promised is faithful!

TA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We just got an email that our TA (travel approval) has arrived. We'll have travel dates confirmed later this week but we might travel around August 28. I can't tell you the relief that came over me when I got that email. Thank you, God, for carrying us this far; I know you will carry us the rest of the way.

Today is Gabe's 3rd birthday, and what a great day it has been. Gabe received lots of love, a cake, new toys, and we all got 2 new photos, a TA, and a video of Hannah.

I'll post more news as I know it. YAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!

2 New Photos

Thanks to another Gaoming family, the Wilsons, for providing these pictures of Hannah from 2 weeks ago. They took their daughter for a heritage trip. Hannah's little friend, Ming Hao, is in one of the pics, too. We are REALLY hoping to get our TA this week (as we were last week, too), but these pictures encourage us that Hannah is well. Here's a quote from the Wilsons about her, "Initially, she didn't look too sure or happy, but then she lit up. When this girl lights up, all the world around her lights up as well." Oh, Hannah, we can't wait to see you light up in our arms!!!