One Less

Today there is one less orphan in the world.  Zhao, Chen Jiao is officially Eleanor Jiao Burton and she is officially ours!  :)

After getting her yesterday, we had a sort of 24 hour "trial period".  Then, this morning, we headed back over to the Civil Affairs office and went through some paper work and were asked if we would like to proceed with the adoption.  There was no way we were giving up this precious, playful, wonderful little girl!  :)  We had to sign a lot of papers including 'sealing' the signatures with our thumb prints in red ink.  We vowed to never abuse or abandon or neglect her and then she was ours.

Ellie's first official picture as a Burton.
(Nanny and orphanage director on the right)

Afterwards, we came back to the hotel and had the rest of the day to hang out and play.  Ellie started to get sleepy and a little snuggly with daddy which he did not mind at all.  :)  Then momma got to snuggle her and she fell right to sleep.  I held her for a little while just marveling at this precious gift we have been given.  It was hard to give up the snuggle time but I knew that she would nap better in her bed and I was really needing a nap after being up since 4am too.  

After nap time, Marcus was feeling brave so he ventured out to Walmart again to get a few things.  Ellie and I stayed behind and played.  She is like any other toddler.  Curious, into everything (especially the things that she is not supposed to play with ;)) and busy.  :)  I even got to see a little bit of her stubborn side when I tried to get the remote away from her.  ;)

Trying to reach the things that momma put out of reach up on the desk. ;)

A pile of napkins can be quite entertaining.  

Apparently, our girl is not afraid of heights.  She seemed to be trying to 'climb' out of the 19th story window!  :)

Mali, Ellie is looking forward to having her big sister read your favorite book to her.  :)

(PS- Have I mentioned that our 20 month old is potty trained?  When they told me that yesterday I didn't really believe them but it has turned out to be true!  First thing this morning, I sat her on the potty and she did both of her businesses.  Then the rest of the day, she would point to the bathroom if we were nearby or pat her diaper to tell me she had to go.  The only 'accident' she had today was while we were at the Civil Affairs office and mommy was distracted and she did NOT like to be dirty! Such a surprise!)

Later on Daddy ventured out again for some dinner and after another picnic in our room Marcus gave Ellie the bath that she had been asking for earlier while she was helping mommy do 'laundry' in the tub.  She really seems to love bath time.  :)  She was so sleepy that we got to see her slap happy side which basically consists of her going into overdrive in fear of falling asleep if she holds still.  So funny.  :)  

Tomorrow, we will be spending much of Christmas day in the car.  We are going to be traveling to Datong where Ellie is from.  It is about a four hour drive north.  We will get to tour her orphanage, possibly meet her foster family, and stop at the police station to get her passport.  It is going to be a really long day and I hope that we don't go too crazy being cooped up in the car for so long.  I also pray that we can gain a lot of insight and history of Ellie's first 20 months while we are there.  Being in an orphanage is certainly going to be a different way of spending Christmas and I pray that God will move in our hearts and remind us of the deepest meaning of Christmas.  We were all lost orphans before Jesus humbled himself and came to Earth as a man only to die for us as a way to make atonement for our sins.  Through Him, we can all be adopted into God's family and never be separated from the love of our Father again.  Adopting Ellie is such a beautiful reflection of why adoption is so close to God's heart. Here's to another day of this amazing journey!  :)

  

'The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy'

I am not even sure how to start putting into words my emotions from today.  I have played so many scenarios in my head over the past year about how this day might have gone.  We were fully prepared for her to cry and be unhappy and scared and not let us in for awhile.  We prayed that it wouldn't go that way but we were ready and knew that it would be completely normal for her to have any or all of those reactions.  The reality of today though?  It actually turned out to be the 'perfect' scenario that I was often too afraid to let play because I didn't want to be disappointed.  Let me try to describe the break down of the day.

We knew that we weren't meeting our guide to go the Civil Affairs office until 2 to go meet Ellie.  We woke up around 3:30 (still dealing with jet lag) and hung out for a little while.  By 6:30 we were hungry so we went down to the breakfast buffet.  Let me just tell you, Chinese hotels do not mess around when it comes to breakfast buffets.  I can't even describe to you the amount and variety of food offered.  After our tummies were happy and full, we came back upstairs and dozed off for a bit again. It was really nice to have a laid back morning and rest up before the next part of the day.

Before it was time to leave, we went back down to one of the restaurants at the hotel to grab a light lunch.  On the way in, we noticed another 'American looking' couple across the lobby.  I off handedly wondered out loud if they might be adopting too.  After all, this city does not get very many foreign tourists.  Lunch was good and then it was time to get ready to go.  I had all the cameras and bags packed for Ellie only to realize when we got to the elevator that I forgot MY coat!  Then on our way down, the elevator stopped and I got off and started walking only to realize that it was not where we were getting off.  Ai!  I was so nervous!

Nervous momma at lunch. :)

When we got to the Civil Affairs office, we started walking in and then all of a sudden, there she was.  The orphanage director and a nanny were walking her and another little girl in.  I was so caught off guard.  There was my daughter.  She was beautiful.  I had tears in my eyes and just kept looking at her and laughing out loud in disbelief as we were walking in with them that I could see her and touch her.  She was real.  :)

We got up to the room there was surprise number two.  The couple we had seen in the lobby were in fact adopting and they were adopting the other little girl from Ellie's orphanage!  We made a few introductions but were quickly distracted by the sweet bundles being handed to us.  :)  As the nanny handed her to me she was so bundled in all her layers and big yellow coat that she was hard to hold and get a good idea of her size.  Except for her cheeks.  Oh her cheeks!  They are so sweet that I just keep kissing them.  Jiao Jiao (what she is called and we will be calling her along with Ellie for a bit to get her used to a new name.  Pronounced Gee ow Gee ow) was so nervous and just taking it all in.  She kept looking at her nanny and looking at us.  She really wasn't too sure about Marcus and mostly tried to avoid eye contact with him.  She didn't have any problem accepting a sucker from her Baba though.  :)  She teared up a couple of times but she was so brave.

After we left Civil Affairs, we had to stop at the bank to exchange money.  By then she had started to warm up to me a bit more and I got the first smiles out of her.  

Then we headed back to our hotel and got to start playing.  At first, she didn't want me to put her down.  We got out the stacking cups though and she started warming up.  :)  She was still pretty nervous about Baba but little kids really can't seem to resist him so she didn't stand a chance.  ;)  Eventually, she discovered the 'knock over' game with him and thought it was about the best thing ever.  She would knock over her bottle or the stack of cups or whatever was near by and smile big when Marcus would make silly sounds and set it back up again.  She has such a sweet personality.  She loves playing and laughing and teasing.  She also loves to eat!  We had a little picnic on the floor while we played and it was wonderful.  

After dinner she was doing so well that we decided to go ahead and give her her first bath.  We had to peel off several more layers to get to her!  She did love her bath though!  She loved playing with her cups and splashing around.  I really can't tell you enough how sweet she is.  Marcus and I kept laughing in delight and marveling over how precious she is and how blessed we are.  :)

After her bath, it was time for snuggles.  :)  She checked out the tv with Baba.  Wouldn't you know it, she is as fascinated with remote controls as any other toddler.  ;)  Then we could tell she was getting sleepy after such a big and long day so I got to hold her while she had her bottle and fell asleep. The moment was beyond amazing.  I am in awe of today.  I am in awe of our daughter.  I am in awe of the faithfulness and goodness of our God.  I know that there is a high likelihood that things will not continue to be as smooth.  There may be times of her being hit by grief or being overwhelmed by it all.  She has a cough and some congestion that could turn into something more.  But for now?  For now, our day was a blessing from above and we are basking in the glow.  :)

I read this verse a long time ago and knew that it was about this day.  I am so blessed that the time has finally come to be sharing it in this blog post. :)  

"Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, 'The Lord has done great things for them."  The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy."     Psalm 126:2-3

On to the next leg of the journey!

Well folks.  We made it to Taiyuan.  It has been quite a day.  After navigating the train stations and train, meeting our new guide, getting checked into our new hotel and then being on our own to try to find some dinner, I felt overwhelmed in a way that I hadn't experienced yet.  Taiyuan is definitely different that Beijing.  If we thought that we were a bit of a novelty there well, I think it is safe to bet that people around these parts do not see very many Americans.  Some people do double takes when they see us, some try to be subtle about checking us out, some have craned their necks so far we were afraid they might wreck their bikes and some just openly stared or pointed.  By the time we were about half way through the crazy Walmart, I was ready to get back to our hotel and hide for awhile. (More on that later)  Marcus, for some reason thought that it was kinda fun.  I am thankful that we can balance each other like that.  He felt more stretched in our time in Beijing than I did but had a great attitude about it all today when I struggled a lot more.  I hope that after some rest tonight, I will be ready to tackle it all again tomorrow.  Especially since tomorrow is Gotcha Day!!!!

Here are some pics of the day-

Walking into the train station

These were some humorous signs in the bathroom at the train station.  Still a little confused.

Trying to get some coffee at the station.  My caramel macchiato was sorely lacking much if any espresso.  It was more like hot caramel milk.  ;)

The landscape coming into Taiyuan.

Lobby of our hotel

Our room

View from our window on the 19th floor

These are in the closet in our room.  I am wondering if I should be worried. ;)

We tried a couple of restaurants but the menus were not in english and they didn't have pictures so we gave up and headed to Walmart.  

You all think Walmart in the US is crazy?  Walmart in China takes it to a whole new level.  

Our first international Walmart haul.  

So that was our day.  From some reason the transition from Beijing to Taiyuan was more emotionally exhausting for me than climbing the Great Wall China was physically.  I think our time here in public is going to be more of a challenge than it was in Beijing.  We have yet to see another 'American' looking person.  I imagine we are going to stand out even more once we are an American couple carrying around a Chinese child.  Fewer people here seem to have any familiarity with English either so communication is much harder.  

I am hoping that after a good nights sleep I will be in a better mental space.  Especially since they delivered this to our room:

:)

We have a free morning tomorrow and then we will be going to the Civil Affairs office at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon (that is 1 am for you guys back home) to hold our little girl for the first time.  You better believe that I am not letting go once I've got her.  ;)  Please be praying for us.  Tomorrow is such a big day for all of us.  I am praying that she is not too scared.  That she will somehow know that we are her family and that she is safe.  That she will warm up to us.  That she is healthy.  That we can figure each other out fairly quickly and find a good rhythm together.  So many things.  

I just can't believe that the time has finally come!

Our past 24 hours in Beijing

It is hard to believe that it has only been a day since we got here.  We have squeezed so much in already that it feels longer, for sure!  Here is a highlight in pictures of our time so far.  :)

After dinner last night, we went to an acrobat show.  Of course the American stuck out like a sore thumb and I got pulled up on stage to drop a giant hammer of sorts to start the show.  ;)

Today we got to climb the Great Wall of China.  Kinda amazing.

See that tiny little dot at the top of the mountain?  Yeah, we climbed all the way up there.
This section is insanely steep.  We had to channel our inner mountain goats at times.  ;)

Breathtaking.

You can see more of the Wall in the background.

It was a little windy at the top.  :)




We also got to drive around Beijing some.  I seriously cannot believe the amount of people that live in this one city.   What amazed me the most, is that out of all the high rise buildings (and there are a lot of them) at least 80-90% of them were apartment buildings.  What is even crazier is that our guide told us that it is really hard to find an apartment to live in and they are so expensive because of the demand.  Beijing currently has a population of over 20 million.  In. One. City.  Compare that to the 9.5 million of Chicago (which is still a lot of people!).  It is staggering that so many people can live in one concentrated area.  

When you are used to high rises in cities being mostly business buildings, it was crazy to see building after building of apartment complexes.

Here are some other sites around the city.

Lots of pedestrians and bikes and motor bikes.  People everywhere.

The traffic is crazy.  Lanes are more of a suggestion and I still can't believe that more people aren't killed crossing the street on foot or bike.  I am also surprised that we didn't see more than just a couple of accidents.  (Thankfully, there is so much traffic that you often aren't going very fast so they weren't serious.)  Seriously.  It is crazy.

Street shops

                                               

                                               We also drove by the Olympic stadium. 

         Then we got to tour the Forbidden City.  I have a lot more cool pictures from inside but we are having some technical difficulties getting my camera to download to Marcus's computer right now.  

Sunset over the Forbidden City

                                                    

Pretty frozen at this point but enjoying ourselves.  :)

Whew.  That is a lot to have squeezed into 24 hours.  Tomorrow morning we get to experience the express train that will take us to Taiyuan which is the capital of Ellie's province.  Then Monday is our Gotcha Day and we get to see the face of our sweet little girl for the very first time!  We get to hold her and kiss her and start the process of teaching her what it means to have a forever family.  :)

           

          Oh, and in case anyone was wondering.... I have also mastered the art of the squatty potty.  ;)

Don't even ask about the smell.  It pretty much just slaps you in the face when you walk into the bathroom.  

  And here is one of my favorite shots of the day since I really can't bear to leave you with the image         of the squatty potty.  :) 

God's beautiful creation looking through a pretty amazing man made creation.