A Whole New World

Today Mia has been home exactly one week.  Just seven days and she's already tried so many new things.  For starters, she lives in a new country, a new house, a new neighborhood.  She  has met 2 new brothers and 2 new sisters along with 4 new grandparents, 4 new aunts, 5 new uncles and 14 new cousins.  She has met new neighbors, eaten new foods, slept in a new bed, gotten her first pair of new shoes and new clothes, and she's gone to a new church with lots of new people to meet. That is quite a lot of a 7 year old.  I didn't have intentions of introducing her to quite so many new things this early - but she is soaking everything up like a sponge.  So much so, that she even went to her NEW school on Thursday and Friday.  She met new teachers, new classmates, and is hearing a new way of learning.  She LOVED her first two days at school and I can tell they have already made a difference in her confidence level.  She was so worried about school and not speaking English, but I think these two days helped her see that somethings about school are the same - and the rest isn't going to be as hard as she thought.  We've been connected with a precious Chinese friend who lives not too far from us and Mia was able to SKYPE with her before she went to school.  I just wanted to be sure she understood what she was asking to do.  It was a great conversation for Mia.  We've been invited to dinner at this lady's house and we can't wait.  The more Chinese people Mia sees her in America, the more at ease she feels.
So, you are wondering, how are we doing with all these new things?  How is Mia coping?  How are we all coping?  The answer is different every day.  Somedays are very, very hard.  Some days are much easier.  Today is the first day I've woken up and felt "normal".  The long trip home that we took almost killed us both, but we wouldn't have done it any other way.  It has however, taken me almost the whole week to recover. I'm hoping I'll be able to function better this week.  Mia has come along way since January 31st when she met us for the first time.  There is still a long way to go - but we've seen so many glimpses of hope in her - we hold on to that on the difficult days.  One day I want to share the whole expereince of those first few days with Mia.  I just can't seem to decide how to do it and how much to share - so I'll wait.  Just know that God was there.  Even in the darkest moments we were never left alone.  He who promised is faithful.

These are pictures of Mia at the Guanzghou Zoo.  It was quite interesting.  I wasn't feeling very safe there - perhaps Chinese aren't as obssessed with safety as we are here.  There just wasn't enough adequate railing and protection for me.  I mean really, have you ever been those close to an elephant.  And do you see the miniscule railing that is keeping Mia from jumping in with the Panda?  It was a great day, but I was a nervous wreck by the time we left. 

 

 

This last pic is her getting ready to head out the door for her first day of school. 

And loving life with sisters......

Snow Delay

This is actually coming from Michelle, Bobby's sister, who had the privilege of staying with Trey, Jillian, Will, and Lainie while they were in China bringing home Mia.  One more night was added to my stay last night when their flight was canceled from Newark to Charlotte, but that was not holding them back from getting home!  They rented a car, drove through the night and should be arriving very soon.  Thank you to everyone who has helped me during these 17 days.  May God bless you because of your thoughtfullness and kindness.  Thank you for your prayers during Bobby and Jennifer's journey in bringing Mia home.  We can not wait to see them all!

Liuhua Park

Today we visited the beautiful Liuhau Park. It was a gorgeous sunny day with a high in the mid 70s. (Sorry to all of you who are freezing at home). The park gave us a chance to walk around and relax most of the morning. The park was full of beautiful flowers, bamboo and bonsai trees. We got a chuckle because people had carved messages in the bamboo just like they do in trees here. There was also a Chinese tea house where we had a demonstration of how different Chinese teas are prepared.


This afternoon we had our consulate appointment and took the oath. We enjoyed talking with several families there who are adopting older children. It is very moving to see a large roomful of orphans standing with their new parents who are promising to be their forever family.

When we left Xi'an we told Mia we would be coming to the zoo in Guangzhou. Finally tomorrow the zoo is on our agenda for the morning. Mia is VERY excited! I hope to make one last post tomorrow before we leave here on Friday morning. I'm posting the flight info after the pics in case I don't get to it tomorrow.

Enjoy the pics of the beautiful park.....
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Flight Info:


All of these flights take place on Friday - but with the time change we are actually traveling more than just one day.

China Southern Guangzhou to Pu Dong Airport - Shanghai 9:30am - 11:50 am

Continental Airlines Flight CO 0086 Shanghai to Newark, NJ - 4:55pm (China Time) to 6:30pm (US time)

Continental Airlines Flight CO 3070 Newark to Charlotte 9:00pm - 10:58pm

** We need your prayers during the layover in Newark - we have 2 1/2 hours to get our baggage, go through immigration (takes awhile as this is where Mia will become a US citizen, and customs). We are on the last flight to Charlotte for the night and we do NOT want to miss it.

Pretty

 One of the English words that Mia's has learned is "pretty". She says it when she fixes her hair and looks in the mirror or when she puts on something new. I think these pictures show our very "pretty" girl.



 

 

 

 

 
Mia passed her TB test! We are counting down the days. As I write this it is Tuesday afternoon here. That means we only have two days (Wednesday and Thursday) left here. Friday morning we leave early to begin the long ride home. I'll post our flight info later. Please pray for all of our family. Mia has come a very long way getting used to us as parents, but she still has far to go. We, as her parents, are also learning more every day about what she needs. Our children back home will also have a lot of transitioning to do once their long awaited sister is home. We are grateful for your prayers thus far as we know they have made such a difference. Please do continue to pray in the days and weeks ahead.
 
 

There's No Place Like.... Guangzhou

There were many days last week when I wanted to click my heels and automatically be here. Xi'an was full of Chinese culture and incredible history, but it wasn't a very kid friendly place for a 7 year old. It was such a big, crowded, busy city, that it was hard to really take Mia anywhere. Everywhere we went required crossing multiple lanes of traffic - a huge ordeal in China with no traffic rules.

Guangzhou is the last stop for all American families adopting from China. On Shamian Island most adoptive families stay here at The White Swan Hotel so it feels a little bit like home. Everyone in the restaurants speak English so we are no longer guessing about what we are eating. Their are also western toilets - but that is another story.

Today we had Mia's medical exam. She got six shots, but she was a tough girl. She only cried for the very last one and it was just a few tears. On Monday we will have her TB test read. Sometimes they are false positive here and a chest x-ray is required. Please pray that her test is clear so we have no chest xray to go through. The TB test is the reason that we must stay here a week. It is a new requirement since we were here in 2007 with Lainie.

There is a small park here that we enjoyed today. Mia can run!! She ran from one thing to another and back again and again and again. I think she was just as glad as we were to finally have a place where she could run and play.

Below are some pics of our last day in Xian when we toured the Bell Tower as well as some pics from the city. Please note that it was not a cloudy day. The haziness you see is smog. Yuck. No wonder we are sick. The last pictures are from today in the park. Tomorrow we visit the Chen Family Temple and the Guangzhou Arts and Crafts Fair.








a typical Chinese apartment



Doesn't every girl deserve a daddy to hold her up to the monkey bars?



Guangzhou is fun, but I am still counting the hours until I can wrap my arms around my four kids at home. I love you! Less than a week to go!

Terra Cotta Warriors

Thank you for all of you who are praying for Mia. It has been a tough grieving process, but we are working through it. Tomorrow we fly to Gaungzhou at 6:40pm our time - 5:40am your time. Our time here is half over. We cannot wait to be home. Please do pray for us. I'm not sure how well Mia will do on the plane ride. We've learned this week that she has never ridden in a car before and she gets very car sick.

Yesterday we visited the famous Terra Cotta Warriors. People have told me about seeing this before, but honestly, you really can't appreciate it until you have been.



Here's the history lesson. The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang believed he would have another life after he died. He had these terra cotta soldiers, horses and chariots made to serve as his army in that life. They were buried, standing and ready for service in his tomb. In 1974, a rural Chinese farmer discovered a hat of one of the warriors while trying to dig a well. He kept it in his house for over a year. Eventually, a relative came to visit and encouraged him to dig more. 8,000 terra cotta soldiers have been uncovered to date along with 520 horses and many chariots. The soldiers each stand 6 ft tall. They date back to 210 BC. The emperor demanded that no two soldiers be made alike. It took 700,000 workers to complete the task. As we now know, the soldiers were not helpful to him in the after life.











It is an amazing site to see. Three separate buildings have been built around three excavation pits. All simply amazing. The detail of each soldier is incredible. I'm sure these pictures won't do them justice. As I said, you really have to see it to appreciate it.





This picture is of Mia at the gift shop. Not a kid friendly shop. Too much terra cotta for little hands to reach!!!

We miss you all. Thank you for following along.

Out and About with Mia

Today was our first day of official touring. We saw two historial sites.


The Wild Goose Pagoda


Originally built in 652 during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the pagoda functioned to collect Buddhist materials that were taken from India by the hierarch Xuanzang. It is called Big Wild Goose Pagoda because of a legend.. According to ancient stories of Buddhists, there were two branches, for one of which eating meat was not a taboo. One day, they couldn't find meat to buy. Upon seeing a group of big wild geese flying by, a monk said to himself: 'Today we have no meat. I hope the merciful Bodhisattva will give us some.' At that very moment, the leading wild goose broke its wings and fell to the ground. All the monks were startled and believed that Bodhisattva showed his spirit to order them to be more pious. They established a pagoda where the wild goose fell and stopped eating meat. Hence it got the name 'Big Wild Goose Pagoda'. The tour was full of talk about Buddha and Buddism. It was interesting to hear the origins of it all, but became a little redundant after the 10 buddha statue. I still find it so interesting to see again how differently people across the world think and live.


Xi'an City Wall




When Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), captured Huizhou, a hermit named Zhu Sheng admonished him that he should 'built high walls, store abundant food supplies and take time to be an Emperor,' so that he could fortify the city and unify the other states. After the establishment of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang followed his advice and began to enlarge the wall built initially during the old Tang dynasty (618 -907), creating the modern Xian City Wall. It's the most complete city wall that has survived in China, as well being one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world. The wall is decorated for Chinese New Year and Mia loved the flower decorations. She wanted her photo taken with everything.







And yes, I'm copying this info from the internet because I do not remember everything Sherry said and I'm too tired to look back at my notes. Tomorrow we are headed to the Terra Cotta Warriors. We've heard so much about them.

Thanks for all of your prayers. Mia still has a broken heart, but most of the days puts on a brave face. She is beginning to show us much affection and we can't wait for all of you to meet this brave little girl. We've seen God here in the big things and in many, many small details. I can't wait to tell you all about this amazing, amazing story.

Jen

A Big God

Thank you for your prayers for precious Mia. Since lunch time today we have seen a total transformation. When she skipped into the lobby to meet our guide, Sherry, for lunch Sherry looked at me and said, "What did you do?" She couldn't believe how happy she was given her difficult morning. I answered by saying, "I prayed." She looked at Mia and said, " You got BIG God."


Yes I do. Yes I do.

While we realize the days ahead will be full of steps forward and steps backward, we are thankful to see a glimpse of Mia's true personality today. Enjoy the pics.

Jen









She wrote these math problems on her own. She even made the little boxes for the answers. When she is done she puts a check mark for each one. Mrs. Upright, I think she'll have no problem with kindergarten math!!!