We're home!

It is so good to be home.  I don't think I was aware of how much I really wanted to come back until we actually arrived at our house.  I'm sure that it could have also been partly because of our very long trip to get here.  Thankfully, it is over now.  A brief synopsis:

      Get up at 4am to fly from Guangzhou to Beijing.  It's a 3 hour flight that Caleb sleeps through. 4 hour layover in Beijing that I thought would be long and boring, but was actually spent with another adoptive family, trying only to find terminal 2.  We manage to make it onto the 2nd flight, Beijing to Newark.  It's a 13 hour flight and Caleb barely sleeps at all.  Besides being incredibly long, it's not exactly dull.  There is vomiting, tears, an argument between 2 passengers across the aisle from us that required flight attendant intervention, me trying to clean up the floor of the airplane restroom because Caleb peed everywhere, more tears (by me), and a request by the airline staff for help from any medical personnel on the flight because someone was ill.  I volunteered after I realized no one else was saying anything.  I should have mentioned right away that I was a pediatric nurse, so I wasn't sure how much I could do.  The whole time, I kept thinking, "what if they have to land the plane?  Where are we going to land? We're flying over the North Pole!"  Fortunately, I was trumped by a Chinese doctor on board and didn't have to do anything.  We arrive in Newark and spend almost 3 hours standing in line, going through customs, finding and rechecking our luggage, etc.  At this point, I am aware that I have limits to what I can endure while traveling, and I believe I have reached it.  But we still had another flight ahead: Newark to Omaha, 3 more hours.  Caleb and Russ sleep and it is peaceful.  We arrive at the airport and are greeted by both my family and Russ' family.  I happily go to bed at 3am, so relieved that it is all over.

Caleb is adjusting nicely to home, although to him, it may just be one more place that he'll stay with us for a little while before moving on.  It's the 3rd bed he's slept in since he's been with us.  The sleeping thing is probably the biggest issue, as we are all still jet lagged, and he really doesn't appreciate the crib yet.  Getting to sleep is OK.  Staying asleep is another story entirely. Sometimes, he just sleeps wherever, I guess.

We went to visit my parents the next day to meet the rest of my family.  We were also reunited with Owen.  It was so good to see him!  He stayed with my parents and probably became somewhat of a spoiled granddog, but that's OK, I suppose.  I wasn't sure how Caleb was going to react to him, but it was all right.  He was a little shy at first, but by the next day, he was totally infatuated with Owen, and wanted to feed him.  The feeling wasn't exactly mutual.  Owen merely tolerated Caleb for a while, but then, after being hand-fed his breakfast for 45 minutes, he really warmed up.

Russ goes back to work tomorrow, so I will be on my own all day.  I hope I can handle it.  We have a doctor appointment on Friday where we'll do the initial visit/workup thing and then see about making plans for Caleb's palate repair.  I think they did an amazing job on his lip already, so hopefully the palate repair will go just as well.

We've been receiving a lot of phone calls and well wishes from family and friends and we really appreciate all of the support that has been given.  Our dear friends even left a full refrigerator for us to find when we got home.  We walked in the door to find fruit, snacks, meat, milk, and even diapers.  It was great!  We are so thankful to be home, see everyone, and know that so many have been following our journey along the way.

From China...part 2

It's hard to believe that we go home the day after tomorrow. In so many ways, I am ready. It will be nice to stop living out of a suitcase and settle back into life at home. I can't wait to see everybody and have them meet our son.

More pictures from this past week:

This is from the area we were in last week, or closer to the area where Caleb is from. We traveled to Wuwei for a day to see his orphanage and I took this along the way.

Caleb says good-bye to a stuffed figure in the lobby of our hotel in Lanzhou. The day before we left, these large figures showed up, promoting the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Just this evening, I was talking with another mom of a cleft child about being overprepared for this. It's true: I was expecting to have to mash his food or break out a blender to puree everything for him. But the truth is, the kid eats everything you put in front of him. What I didn't need were the special cleft bottles, Nuk nursers, and Playtex liners. I also threw one sippy cup into the suitcase before we left. It's the only thing he will drink out of at all, so it gets washed repeatedly (someone pointed out that sippy cups are made in China, but not used here). Yeah, it's the only one I've got. The other bottles, well, someone in the orphanage will hopefully now get good use out of them as they've been donated to a better cause.

We arrived in Guangzhou late Friday night and it is so different from the Gansu province that we came from. For one thing, it's humid. It actually rains at times. We spent Easter Sunday outside with the rest of the town because it was such a nice day.

Today we had a meeting with all of the families at the White Swan hotel (kind of the "main" hotel in this town where a lot of adoptive parents stay) to go over what was happening at the consulate in preparation for our return home. All of our paperwork was approved without any issues, and tomorrow there will be a swearing-in ceremony. Caleb will receive his visa and will officially become a US citizen when the plane lands. The tradition here is to take a picture of the babies on the famous "red couch" of the hotel (ok, maybe just famous in the China adoption realm). The kids can be dressed in traditional Chinese attire, so we found a regal little suit for Caleb to wear.

We'll be coming home soon everybody! See you then!

Gotcha!

Ni hao?!

Our little guy is here!

We've actually been with him a week now, but due to internet issues and first-time parenting, I've not been able to post anything. We arrived in Guangzhou last night after spending 6 days in Lanzhou, which is Caleb's province.

We had toured Beijing for a couple of days and on Sunday, flew to Lanzhou, about a 2 hour flight. Our plan was to get settled in to our hotel and we would meet the babies on Monday at the civil affairs office. That was our first mistake: we actually planned something. Things never seem to go as planned, do they? After arriving in Lanzhou and getting off the plane, getting our bags, meeting our guide, and getting on the bus, we headed for our hotel. As soon as the bus started, our guide told us that we would not be meeting the babies on Monday. Instead, our Gotcha day was to be that day instead! They would be brought to our hotel sometime around 3pm. I looked at the clock: 1:30, with an hour drive ahead of us to the hotel. We would just be getting there and our kids would arrive soon after! Russ and I were a little stunned, to say the least:

After recovering from the initial shock, panic set in. How many gifts for the officials do we bring? Which suitcase did we pack them in? What toys should we bring with us to the meeting room? What paperwork is necessary?

We reached the hotel and ran to our rooms to put gifts together and gather stuff we needed. I was so nervous! It was a strange thought that Caleb was so close by, he's always been there in pictures and dreams, but now to meet him in person! I wondered what his personality would be like, would he be traumatized by everything? Will he like us? The questions were endless in my mind. We went to the designated meeting room where the other families were waiting, too. After a few moments, a man came in and announced that the babies had arrived. The nannies came into the room with the kids, and I saw Caleb right away. I saw those eyes...straight out of his pictures. He was smaller than I imagined. He looked little and vulnerable, clinging to his nanny and looking around at everyone. We were so excited. The nannies took the kids and sat with them on their laps for a few minutes, since none of them seemed to eager to go straight to their new parents. Everyone was a little shy at first, and then, my little boy jumped down from his nanny's lap and toddled toward the waiting group with a smile on his face! He was so friendly, and so busy, just into everything in that room while we spent a few minutes getting to know him and signing papers.

The next day, we went to the civil affairs office to finish the paper work and he is officially ours! I guess we can't send him back now, huh? Who would want to? This little guy has so much personality and spunk. It is a lot of energy to keep up with, but he's doing great!

So, we have spent the last week in Lanzhou at the hotel and around the town some, getting used to being a family. It is very strange, the mix of culture and humanity in this country. It is unlike anything I've ever been exposed to. While driving, in one lane of traffic there is a rickshaw, right next to a Land Rover. Street markets have vendors selling traditional food, clothing, and spices sitting outside a coffee shop with an internet cafe. The architecture of one building on the street will have traditional/ancient Chinese decor and it will be next to a hotel covered in Vegas-style lights. Very interesting, all of it.

We spent a day travelling to see the orphanage were Caleb is from. Even though he was in foster care for much of his life, he still was closely associated with the orphanage in his hometown and probably went back at least once a month for a check up. The orphanage was four hours from Lanzhou, and when we arrived, we were warmly welcomed. We felt very honored to be there, as there are not very many families who return to visit. We had lunch with the directors and were able to tour the grounds and see some of the kids. It was very emotional. The assistant director took us to the very spot where Caleb was found as a newborn, on a road near the orphanage. She was actually the very person who found him. What an honor to be able to meet her! It's so strange to think back to that day, only 18 months ago. I remember what I was doing during that time, and it was not planning to go to China to adopt a little boy. It's amazing to think that God knew, even on that very day, that we would one day be standing in that spot.

There is so much more to say, so I'll have to keep adding posts and pictures. We are excited to come home, but we are here until Thursday, finishing up the consulate stuff. Tomorrow we are going to take more pictures of Guangzhou, which is entirely different from where we just came from.

Take care everyone!

From China...

So, we've made it here. As I write this, we are sitting in an internet cafe on the streets of Beijing. We arrived after about 24 hours of travel--I guess a couple days ago, it's hard to tell, really. I think it was Thursday afternoon. We're about 13 hours ahead of home, CDT. Our flight was looooong, but we arrived safely. I think I watched Enchanted at least 3 times, as it was one of the only in-flight movies available. Not bad.

There are three other families with us, which is great. These are families that are adopting through our agency, and we have been communicating with some of them since we have been DTC. Two of the families are here on their 2nd adoption, and we've gotten some great advice on this whole thing. There is so much that can be unexpected that I appreciate any help that I can get.

Highlights: yesterday, we walked past Tiananmen Square but were not able to go closer than across the street, as it is not open to the public at this time. We walked through the Forbidden City, which is enormous. Quite a bit of history there. I think one of the best parts of the day was taking a rickshaw into the hutong neighborhood, which is an older area of homes throughout some narrow streets and alleys (actually, the rickshaw ride was cool, but the driving here overall is, uh, uncomfortably close). Anyway, we took a rickshaw to a local family's home for lunch, which was delicious. We enjoyed meeting the local people in addition to doing all of the "touristy" things.

Today we visited a jade factory where I think a clerk was hitting on me. He was actually just trying to make a sale, I'm sure. I think the line went something like, "you look like an actress I saw in a movie this weekend, uh, I can't remember her name, though. You're beautiful," until Russ pointed out that I was his wife. He replied "you are very handsome, too!" He got the sale.

We also went to the Great Wall, which was amazing. My legs are still feeling the climb, but it was so worth it!

It is such a fascinating place to be: the people, the food, the culture in general is so very different to that which we are accustomed to. I am trying to soak much of it in so that we will be able to relay this someday to our son.

Speaking of our son, we meet him the day after tomorrow! Tomorrow we will fly to Lanzhou, about 700 miles from here. We are scheduled to actually meet him on Monday, but have been told to prepare for anything. He could be brought to the hotel tomorrow after we arrive, who knows.

I am going to attempt to add some pictures here, but I don't know if it will work. I'm actually unable to see the entry after it has been posted, so we'll see what happens. Here goes!Russ at the Forbidden City

Rickshaw ride

The Great Wall!