First Full Day as a Family

Our day started with a buffet breakfast in the hotel. It was a very nice one with lots of wonderful choices - good for us, overwhelming for Wade. I can't imagine what was going through his head. We took him around asking him "yao, bu yao" meaning do you want this or not? He just shook his head yes or no. He choose a few items and then went back to the table. He quickly ate up what was on his plate and then when offered more, he indicated that he was full. Well everyone at the table proceeded to go back two, three or four times and we asked him a few more times if he wanted to try something that we had gotten. He was adamant that he was full. After breakfast, we went to get ready for the day at the Great Wall. It was looking like a beautiful day and it proved to be so for the entire day. What a blessing! The ride to the Mutianu location of the wall was long but so worth it. Having been there two previous times I never get tired of the awesome beauty of the wall and surrounding mountains. As we arrived at the Wall, we realized that we did not do a good job of planning for lunch so we discussed our options as to what to take up on the wall with us for a couple of hours. Our guide, Jenny said that she thought there was a new Subway opened up at the base of the wall by the parking lot. I found it hard to believe, but sure enough there is was! It was perfect for us to take with us in our backpacks. Wade had never had a sandwich before but dove right in choosing the meatball sub. Once again, he did not hesitate to try something new. I am amazed at how easy he is to please.

We really enjoyed ourselves as the weather was so nice and it was fun to watch Wade take it all in. I wonder if he got tired of us taking pictures of him? Is there ever a bad picture on the Great Wall? I doubt it. He pretty much stayed ahead of the pack the whole time. Must be he is in pretty good shape. I never saw him huffing or puffing on those steep climbs as I was. So many times I wished that I could read his mind. What must he think of this place?

After hiking together for a while, Rich, Wade and Lucas continued on to the end of the renovated part of the wall. It was quite a steep hike as you can see from the pictures. At the top they stopped to have their picnic lunch of Subway subs and bask in the sunshine. The rest of us picniced farther down and waited until they rejoined us. We then continued on in the opposite direction to pick up the alpine slide to take down the mountain. It was another long up and down hike but it seems as if Wade picked up the pace (even after he just completed the long hike with Rich and Lucas). I think he was very excited to go down the slide (another first!).

Wade is such a great age for this kind of thing. He seemed to be "in his element" even though he has had few experiences of this type. He is active for sure. At times he was just like Lance jumping down stairs, hopping up on things and spinning around.

Wade was a bit anxious about the alpine slide but did just great and enjoyed it very much. Rich is behind him breaking the rules of the road by taking pictures while driving. The other kids were worried that I would go too slow on the slide. They didn't want to get caught behind a slow poke. I flew down that thing leaving the slide monitors along the way yelling "slow down lady!" I just laughed out loud thinking about my kids' and their comments.

After a very long drive back to the hotel, we freshened up and our guide took us to a "popular" restaurant right down the street from the hotel. Wade had never had Peking duck and we wanted him to try it. The problem was, that all the other dishes came first while they roasted the duck and he was full before it ever got to the table. At our insistence, he was a trooper to try it anyway and said "hao chi". It was good.

Long enough for now, there is so much to say but impossible to say it. All of the kids are handling this really well, and we are so proud of them. Their attitude will make or break how this transition goes, and we can say so far that they are a huge part of the solution!

Keep praying, we covet every thought sent to Him on our behalf. Much love.

Gotcha Day for Wade!!

What an amazing day it has been! After a 40 minute delay (which seemed like hours) we took off for Beijing this morning at 11:40 where we knew our son was waiting for us. We arrived at the orphanage around 3:30 and as we pulled up to the gate, Wade was walking out to greet us with an orphanage worker and our guide Tom. We hugged and the kids were introduced to him for the first time. We walked back inside to complete some paperwork. This picture was taken just after we got in to the orphanage. Wade was wearing the coat we gave him as a gift back in December.

I signed I don't know what several times with Wade anxiously looking over my shoulder the whole time. The formal paperwork process will take place on Monday at the Adoption Registration office. Rich was unable to come up with us because of some yearly reviews with the company vice presidents this week. He is on his way tonight as I type (a 3.5 hour delay at takeoff).

What a sweet kid he is! He definitely likes that "Chinese Peace sign" when he gets his picture taken. Stacia was so sweet in asking him questions in Chinese. All the kids did so well today speaking with him. It was much less awkward than I thought it would be (for me). He was VERY ready to go. I think he has been very ready for 3 months (since we last saw him). There were definitely no tears shed as he left the Beijing Social Welfare Institute for the last time. There were smiles all around!

On the way out of the orphanage, we passed a school and Stacia asked Wade (in Chinese) if that was his school. When he said it was, I asked the driver to stop and Wade and I ran back to take a picture. No tears shed there either. As you can see, it was just a beautiful day in Beijing!

Knowing that Wade likes video games, Lance brought along his game boy for Wade to try. As far as we know, he had never played one before. It took Wade 2 seconds to figure it out. Lance said "wow, you are smart" (not in Chinese). Wade really enjoyed himself and it was a nice ice breaker as we all got into the van and left the orphanage. I think I have another screen time junkie on my hands!

We are staying at a Holiday Inn in Beijing and it is lovely. So far the service has been outstanding and they are so welcoming and accommodating of our family. We decided to have dinner in the hotel and 5 of us ordered the mushroom, salmon, fettuchini! When we were at the orphanage, I asked our guide to ask Wade what foods he liked. Wade said hamburgers, chicken wings and pizza. I think he will fit in with this group just fine. At dinner he ordered a hamburger with fries and a coke. He absolutely gobbled those fries down and then attacked that big burger. He ate every bite on his plate and enjoyed it.

This is a picture of the backpack on Wade when he came to greet us at the orphanage. It contains a lifetime of possessions. In it he had a plush Spiderman (he likes Spiderman and I just bought him one very similar to his not knowing he had one), three books on martial arts (?), an old empty wallet (which I promptly got out my wallet and put 50 kaui in it), a plastic wrist toy, some mangoes, candy and snacks, his hat and gloves that we gave him in December, along with the photo album and picture frame we gave him as well. Hmm....humbling

After dinner the kids went for a swim. I found out earlier in the day that Wade didn't know how to swim but was not afraid of the water either. He was excited to go. The water was a bit chilly but he bravely got in. Stacia stayed close by and I ran the cameras. He seemed to have a great time as the kids were tossing the ball around with him, splashing him, and including him in their games. Stacia was trying to teach him how to kick. After a while he felt brave in the water and we took off his ring. He stayed close to the side a bit but bravely ventured out into the middle of the pool. I don't think he wanted to get out.

I can't believe that we have added another beautiful child to our family. It is still a dream. Hopefully it doesn't turn into a nigh....... I won't say it! I am so proud of my kids. They were so welcoming and loving to Wade. I think he really enjoyed the day. I know I did! As Stacia and I were sitting by the pool, she asked me if I thought this would be our last adoption. God only knows.... I think these kids were pretty impressed by Wade. Just today he has shown guts. He is brave and gentle. He is smart and determined. Just looking at him I can't imagine him going for the rest of his life without a family. There is so much potential in him. I feel very blessed that God chose us to be his forever family.

Wade sat right next to me as I loaded the pictures onto the blog. I can tell he is very interested in computers. He probably already has some things to teach me. After loading the pictures, I put him to bed. He is in an extra bed beside our bed and the other kids are in an adjoining room. He is sleeping like a baby. Everything went so smoothly today. I know it was because we were so widely covered in prayer by our amazing group of family and friends. Well, God showed up and I have been moved to tears several times today. Wade was so gracious about the clothes I brought him (all hand me downs), took his shower and hung up his towel and bath mat, said thank you in English several times. Tomorrow we have the Great Wall on our itinerary. He has never been there. We asked him where he had been in Beijing and he said the zoo and Tianamen Square. It will be so fun to share these amazing China highlights with him. I can't wait! Thank you again dear ones for your love and prayers. More tomorrow...

To Beijing to join with our new son, Wade!

Tomorrow we fly out of Shanghai on an 11:00 flight to Beijing. We will go directly to the orphanage to welcome Wade to our family. We are so excited that the time has finally arrived! There will most likely be some very nervous energy in that room tomorrow. We met him last April while helping Christian World Adoption out on their Hope Project at his orphanage. We were interested in the idea of adoption again and were open to what God had in mind for our family. I guess He made it very clear to us by Wade asking us if we would adopt him. It was meant to be! So almost a year later, he will officially be our son. We saw him again in December when we participated in another Hope Project and that time he knew we were adopting him. We had a sweet, nervous and awkward reunion. I think he is very ready to come home. He has known for a while but I am sure has not been able to understand the reason for the wait. We told him that we would be back as soon as we could. I hope we are worth the wait! This has been an incredible faith adventure and it has only just begun. We are counting on God's grace for the challenges ahead. We are so thankful for all of our incredible and supportive family and friends. Thank you for praying. I hope to keep this blog up during the next week as we spend time together as a family getting acquainted.

Back in Business with the Blog

Well, we bought a proxy that seems to work from China, so we will try it! Blogs are blocked in China, as are YouTube, Facebook, and who knows what else. I heard that Google will be next. Those who complain about things in the land of the free and the home of the brave don't know how good they have it!

I'll make this blog about our last trip, that's always a good way to introduce you to more of Asia. And pictures are more fun than me writing, so it is better this way. Vacation means plenty of pictures.

We just returned for Boracay Island, in the Philippines. The Philippines has 7,107 islands, so it is mostly just one tropical island after another. It is beautiful, beautiful...but also very poor. The people are wonderful, but don't always have much in the way of material goods. So we decided to go on a vacation with a mission!

Each day started with construction. We were helping to build a ministry center/school/medical center/orphanage. And did our kids work! We went with our friends the Liptak family, plus Lori, another friend from church.

Every afternoon/evening we went to feeding centers -- 20 of them spread around the island. Many hundreds of kids. Fun, sweet, and loveable - they also needed the help. We brought vitamins, medical supplies, games...whatever we could. It was great for them, and great for us, and we have memories that we will never forget.

At the end of a week of intense work, we also took a weekend to enjoy the beauty of the place on our own. Whether boating, beach, or just walking, it was a very memorable place. Think Hawaii, at 75% discount. :)

It is fulfilling and inspiring to be able to join with a local ministry and see for ourselves how big a difference that we can make for others. And it is very humbling. To realize that we did not ask to be born where we were any more than these people did. "But for the grace of God, there go I."

We found faithful, fun, forever friends in this new place. God is good.

Singapore

Last year, the whole family took a trip to Malaysia for my soccer tournament. It turned out to be a great experience, so we decided to do it again; this time in Singapore. Since our school did not have a spring break the same time the tournament was, only me, Mom, and Dad went. I ended up having to skip a few days of school, but it was okay because my teacher gave me plenty of work to do on the plane.

Singapore is known for its cleanliness, strict rules, and modern building structures. It sounded like a fun place to tour around, so we decided to go a day early. We got a flight on Thursday morning and arrived there Thursday night. We stayed the night at a 5 star hotel and got ready to spend the day touring.

The first attraction we visited on Friday was the Singapore flyer. It is the largest observation ferris wheel in the world! You stand in a glass encased room- that can fit about 40 people- and a full rotation around the wheel takes a full 30 minutes. From the top, you can see the whole city and hundreds of ships at Singapore’s port. It was great, but the best was yet to come with the night safari that night.

During that day, we went birthday shopping for me. Since I turned 12 the day before, it was the perfect chance to get some awesome presents. I ended up getting a new backpack and laptop case for my mac computer next year. Mom and Dad also sneaked in some shopping; Mom bought kitchen utensils while Dad bought a huge pancake griddle that can hold up to ten pancakes (he’s really proud of it too).

With the coming of night, we took a 45 minute taxi ride out of the city to the night safari. There we enjoyed an American dinner with a thrilling show of fire breathing and dancing. It was awesome! After our dinner, we entered the safari and took a large tram around to see all the nocturnal animals. We came across rhinos, lions, deer, giraffes, birds, zebras, hyenas, buffalo... Animals I had never seen up close before! It was really interesting to see them in their natural habitats in the night. We also took a walk through the tame animal habitat, where we saw flying squirrels (one ALMOST landed on my head), bats, otters, sloths… and many, many more.

The next day was the beginning of my soccer tournament. All my teammates arrived, and by 10 am we were out on the field playing for the win. We played many games, and made it into the Final Cup for the next day. Unfortunately, it was extremely hot and humid, making playing hard and somewhat tiring. It was around 100 degrees, and every moment that my team and I weren’t playing soccer, we were cooling down in the shade.

The teams we played in the Final Cup were really talented. The games were really hard, but we finished with a strong 4th place out of 12 teams. My whole team received a medal for our hard work. Right when I got back to the hotel, I drank a large green apple slurppie and jumped in the pool with my whole team to cool off. We had a blast flipping and diving into the water. That was the last day of the tournament- Sunday.

The whole team flew back to Shanghai on Monday morning. The flight was 6 hours long and I had a blast doing my awesome homework- NOT. We arrived home at 6 pm, and took the maglev train back home. (The maglev is a train that runs of magnets and can go hundreds of miles per hour. It only took us 7 minutes to make it most of the way home- the trip by car would take 45 minutes). I got home to a happy family- my siblings had all stayed at friend’s houses, but they were happy that we had come back. They were super jealous that I had gotten 3 days of school off and a dark suntan and bleached hair to boot.

~Lance

Our Little Guest

This week we have the wonderful pleasure of having little Nan Nan stay with us. He is an orphan who came to Shanghai for surgery months ago from his orphanage and has stayed ever since. Until a few weeks ago he was staying in a group foster home run by loving Chinese ladies and has since been placed with my neighbor Charlene Stone and her husband and two Chinese adopted daughters. They will foster parent him for as long as they can or until he gets adopted. They are visiting their youngest daughter's orphanage this week and asked us to care for him. What fun to have a little one around again (no I don't have the itch for a baby)! Many expat families serve as foster homes for the babies who come to Shanghai for surgeries. This keeps them in loving environments where all their needs are met. We had a great first day and this little guy doesn't suffer for attention for one minute.

A Little Bragging

OK, excuse us for this. But a few awards came through recently, and since they are our kids, WE at least think it is news. ;)

Lance and two of his buddies won a first place award at the Shanghai Film Festival – Best Music Video (Elementary School Disivion) for a film they made last year. Copyright has now cleared, so it can be shown on YouTube. Very cool, to have a film star in the family. Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEgcDl7OYx4

Lucas and two classmates won an award this week on National History Day. They developed a very detailed documentary film about Dr. Feng Shan Ho, who rescued thousands of Jews from the Nazis by gaining them passage to Shanghai. They used video, stills, voice-over, interviews, etc. to put it together. It was a city-wide competition; they earned third place – and a VERY happy history teacher in the process!

In the meantime, Stacia also pulled in a couple recent accolades. Basketball season finished up, she was named First-Team for both All Conference (Shanghai) and also All-APAC (Asia-Pacific Athletic Conference). At the year-end banquet, she was recognized as team MVP and captain. Not bad for a sophomore!

Equally exciting, Stacia was just invited to join National Honor Society. This is a measure of high grades and strong service in the community. It is great to see her recognized for all the hard work and determination!

The kids all brought home good report cards, so as a bonus for the whole family we went out to a new local treat we found – COLDSTONE CREAMERY! Since ice cream is not too common here, and good ice cream basically non-existent, this is quite a find in Shanghai and will hopefully lead to another set of excellent report cards soon!