Goodbye, Jinan. Hello, Guiyang!

This afternoon, we left our hotel in Jinan. While we're both excited to go get Isabelle, we're a bit sad at leaving Jinan behind. We have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves this week, and that makes it hard to say goodbye. But, I'm sure that we'll explore Guiyang some in the week ahead, and I want to make sure that I appreciate our time in Guiyang, because this will almost certainly be the only time that we'll ever get to be in Isabelle's birth province.

We ran into a few snags in getting to our flight this afternoon. First, we almost left Hallie's bottle at the hotel, which would have been an unmitigated disaster since that's the only way that we can get her to consume anything. It's the bottle that her nannie from the orphanage dropped off with her, and I don't know what we would have done if we had forgotten it. Thankfully, Kristie remembered that it was still in the refrigerator in our room as we were loading our luggage into the van. Then, at the airport, we were delayed in obtaining our boarding passes because Hallie's birthday had been incorrectly entered as being in 2008, and it took a while to sort that out. Then, we had to pay a fee of 490¥ because our bags were 20 kg over the weight limit. By the time we got in line at security, I was stressed because I thought that our plane was supposed to leave in about fifteen minutes. So, when we were held up again (I'm not even sure why this time), I really began to worry. We got through the check-point with ease, and then I hustles down to our gate. At that point, I realized at our flight was to depart at 16:45, not 16:00 as I had been thinking. And all this time, it was printed on our boarding passes! At least we got to our gate in time, but we again were delayed when we tried to get on the plane. There was some problem with Hallie's boarding pass, and while we're not exactly sure what the trouble was, we think that her seat might simply have been double-booked because they assigned us to a different row. But, we made it safely onto the plane.

Poor Hallie had a very hard time when she first boarded the plane. She didn't like the fact that the flight attendant made us put her in her seat and buckle her in (nor did we, for that matter), and she didn't like the pressure change during take-off. The poor thing cried pretty much the whole time, and she only settled down once Kristie was able to get her out of her seat and hold her. Then, she quickly fell asleep. She was really tired and probably a bit hungry, though she was so worked up that we couldn't coax her to take any of her bottle.

John had told us before we left Jinan that Lucy was running late and wouldn't be able to meet us at the airport, so the driver would take us to our hotel. Once we arrived in Guiyang, we gathered our bags and met the driver at the airport exit. She then ushered us up to the upper outside level, which meant taking a couple of trips up the escalator because the baggage cart wouldn't fit. Then, she asked us—through a series of hand gestures, since she doesn't speak any English—to wait there while she went and got the car. A few minutes later, she came back, looking frantically for her keys. Thankfully, she found them among our bags. She must have dropped them while helping us to get our bags to the upper level. I'm sure glad she found them! Then, she drove us over to our hotel, which is easily the most luxurious hotel at we've ever stayed in. It's almost like living in an Eastern-style European apartment. I don't think that we'd have ever booked a room in a place like this, but this is where our contact put us for this week, so we're going to enjoy it.

Native Music & Food

This morning, John picked us up at 9:00 to go get Hallie's passport. Thankfully, it was done and ready for us, and we were finished with our errand before 10:00. So, he took us to the tea shop that he and a couple of his friends own.

It was closed when we arrived, so he unlocked the door—and believe me, it was very well secured—and took us inside. He treated us to several different kinds of tea: red tea, a locally-grown green tea, a green tea from southern China, and an oolong tea. We also spied one of the traditional musical instruments (a guqin) that he makes lying on a table in the other room. It turns out that this was a factory-made model, not one of his handmade creations, but he treated us to a couple of traditional songs. The video that I got is of a traditional song from right here in Jinan. Amazing stuff.

Then, just as we thought that our time there was just about over, he asked if we wanted to have some roast lamb for lunch. We'd been kind of sad that we hadn't really had any local food this week, so we eagerly said yes, and boy, are we ever glad that we did! He ordered it from a street vendor just a couple of shops over, and about fifteen or twenty minutes later, the vendor came over with a plethora of lamb skewers, along with some deliciously-seasoned bread that had also been toasted. This is without a doubt the best food that we've had since we left home, and it's also the best food that we've had in recent memory. And, he wouldn't let us pay him for this, either.

After stuffing ourselves with lamb, bread, and some more tea, we sat and talked for quite a while. We can't say how much we've enjoyed his company this week, and we wish that we had more time to spend with him. He has made our time here in Jinan wonderful, and I don't know what we would have done without him. If he ever comes to the States, he had better look us up.

This is our last night here in Jinan. Tomorrow, we'll check out of our hotel at 2:00 pm and then head straight to the airport to catch our flight down to Guiyang. We suspect that it will be about a three-hour flight, so as much as we'd love to see Isabelle right away, in some ways it would be better if they would wait until Sunday to bring her to us, if they're going to bring her to us early at all. Hallie would probably do better with a night to get used to a new environment. Several times today she started to melt down, but Kristie was able to calm her down each time. She really relies on us and our hotel room for stability, and we're hoping that one night in the hotel in Guiyang will be enough for her to regain that sense of stability in a new place before her sister joins her. But, of course, if they do meet us at the hotel with Isabelle, we will be delighted to see her. I can't believe that we're already done here in Jinan. We're going to miss this place, but we are more than ready to meet our other little girl and start bonding with her, too.

Hallie, smiling at breakfast when I tickled her

John's tea shop

John, serving us some tea

Best food of the trip!

She's Opening Up!

Well, today was a big day for Hallie. We took things very easy today, venturing out for a walk by ourselves (we gave John the day off, even though he seemed a little bit disappointed at not seeing us again today) down by the city moat, and trying to find the Western style cafes that he told us were just down the street from our hotel. We'd only been out for about half an hour when Hallie started crying, so we turned around and went back to our room. She calmed down pretty quickly once we got back there. She's taking a little bit more from her bottle than she did at the beginning of the week, and she's definitely staying awake for increasingly longer stretches of time. In fact, she didn't sleep at all this afternoon, which was a shock to us (especially given that both of us fell asleep for parts of the afternoon!). And, completely out of the blue, she gave Kristie her first smile AND her first giggle! We didn't think that we'd see her laugh until we got to Guangzhou, at the earliest, but sure enough, she was giggling while Kristie was tickling her this afternoon. So cute, and we're so excited about this! She's really opening up with us, and it's a great feeling to see her real personality starting to shine.

Then, when we went to dinner tonight (at a rather over-priced but still enjoyable restaurant here in the hotel), she had a meltdown while we were finishing up our desserts. Again, we'd been gone from the room for just over half an hour, and this time I think that she was mostly just tired. But, we think that she just wanted to be back in the room with us. Already it seems like hearing a lot of Chinese is upsetting to her; she seems to have a strong preference for hearing Kristie and me talk (definitely NOT in Chinese), and this is a good bonding sign. She's bonding more like a typical infant—very much like the way in which Mikaela bonded with us—and that fits with our impression of her as being much more like a 12-month old instead of a nearly-four-year-old. She really is our baby. Well, at least for a few more days until we get Isabelle. Then she might have some competition. :-)

It's Official!

I'm a little late in posting this, but on Monday morning, our little girl became Hallie Elizabeth Godwin for good! Her adoption is complete, and that happened a day earlier than we expected because they brought her to us Sunday afternoon instead of Monday morning, which meant that the mandatory 24-hour (i.e., overnight) probationary period ended on Monday instead of beginning then. It was really good for us to have her just four hours after arriving in Jinan, and I think that it's going to make her transition easier. She was very placid and complacent Sunday. In fact, she slept for about twelve hours that night. On Monday morning, we had to go to Civil Affairs, the police station, and then the notary's office. At the first two stops, both of the caretakers from her orphanage came with us, and the one who seemed more attached to her spent most of the time holding Hallie and taking care of her. It seemed like she needed the time to say goodbye even more than did Hallie. At the notary's office, only the other caretaker came in with us; I don't know where the other girl was. She didn't hold Hallie at all in the office, but that wasn't so strange because she hadn't held her much at all at any of the times that we've seen her. (We learned later that she was only there to take care of the papers from the orphanage. She wasn't actually Hallie's caretaker, at least not to the extent that the other girl was.)

Hallie was really hungry by the time we finished up there (about 11:30), and thankfully we were able to get some clarification on her eating habits. They'd told us Sunday, through John (our coordinator here in Jinan this week), that Hallie liked to eat cheese. We asked him to ask the taller girl what kind of cheese to get, but it turns out that cheese is an inaccurate translation. The only kind of solid food that she eats is crackers/cookies mixed with milk. They left some of that with us when they brought her to the hotel on Sunday, and so Kristie mixed some up in a bowl and fed it to her for her lunch once we got back to the room. For the first time, Hallie really fought back. Even though she liked the taste of the food, she didn't want to do it on our terms. The realization that she is now in our care, not that of her usual caretakers, seemed finally to dawn on her. So, Kristie spent the better part of 20-30 minutes holding her still while feeding her one spoonful at a time. She finally did eat most of the bowl, and then after crying some more, she settled down for a good afternoon nap.

We ventured out that night to find some Western restaurants done Chinese-style. The Pizza Hut that we found looked almost like a half-Pizza Hut, half-bistro restaurant, and let me tell you, it's a good deal nicer than the Pizza Hut/Taco Bell combos that we have back at the States. Dinner there was really good, and we got back to the room exhausted, but very grateful for the fact that Hallie is now officially ours. What a great way to end our first full day in Jinan!

Hallie being held by her caretaker, along with the other worker from the orphanage.

Chinese knot given to us by the woman at Civil Affairs. This knot means "good fortune."

The picture below is of her in the van, as we drove from Civil Affairs, where her adoption became final. Apparently, adoption is tiring not just for the parents, but for the kid, too. :-)

At Pizza Hut

China Trip: Day 1

We are finally on our way to China! We dropped our kids off at my parents' house Thursday evening, and they seem to be settling in very well. My parents have all kinds of fun activities planned for them, and I think they are going to have a great time. We went back home to a very empty house, packed up the rest of our stuff and then attempted to get some good sleep. I fell asleep immediately and slept very deeply at first, but was wide awake by 4:45, and never got back to sleep at all. We finally got up about 6:30, and had plenty of time to get ready before our pastor arrived at 12:00. He took us to CVG, and we made it through security so quickly, that we ended up with two and a half hours to kill before our plane boarded. The plane was packed, and they asked for a few volunteers to check their carry-on baggage to their final destination at no extra cost. Greg and I both agreed, because we thought it would be nice not to have the extra pull-behinds and strollers as we navigated the LA airport. The flight from CVG to LAX was uneventful, and we arrived here with no problem. We grabbed some dinner, and then went to check in at the counter to print our last couple of boarding passes. That's where we ran into our first major snag. It turns out that the carry-on luggage CAN'T be checked all the way to our final destination, because we didn't pay the extra fees, so they need to pull those items off and have us carry them on. That wouldn't be any problem, except they can't seem to find our bags at all. They have been looking for them for an hour now. They told us to come back at 9:00, and we really hope they have found them by then, because the plane boards at 10:00. We are both so tired already, and we know that the hard part of this journey is still ahead of us. We just keep trying to focus on Hallie, and knowing that we will meet her for the first time in about 48 hours. (We are obviously focused on Isabelle too, but since we don't get to meet her for another week still, it is more helpful to focus on Hallie right now). We are so thankful to be at this point in our adoption, and so grateful to God for everything He provided to make this possible for us. Right now we are just really tired. And we miss our kids. Three weeks is a very long time to be away from all of them. The internet connection at LAX is pitiful, so probably by the time I actually get this posted, we will have resolved the situation with our bags and everything. But please pray for us anyway. Pray for us as we fly that God will keep reminding us why we are doing this and that we will rely on Him to sustain us. Thanks!

Kristie

Travel plans

I just realized that I have been updating everyone on my travel plans by means of Facebook, but haven't posted anything here for those of you who are not Facebook friends. We got our TA, we got our consulate appointment, and everything is completely set for us to leave. We have booked plane tickets, made hotel reservations, and have our whole schedule set.

We leave Cincinnati at 4:00 on Friday afternoon, and fly to L.A. From there, we will fly to Guangzhou, and then on to Jinan. Our plane is set to land in Jinan at 10:15 Sunday morning, which will be 10:15 Saturday night here in Cincinnati. We should get custody of Hallie on Monday morning, and sign the papers to complete her adoption on Tuesday. Then we have a few days of peace and quite while our contact, John works on getting Hallie's birth certificate and passport. We should have those by Friday evening, so on Saturday the 17th, we will fly down to Guiyang. Then we should get Isabelle on Monday the 19th. Our last week will be in Guangzhou, working with the U.S. Consulate. We fly out of Guangzhou on Friday Aug. 30, and land home in the afternoon of Saturday the 31st.

We are so excited to be just over a week away from meeting Hallie for the first time, but we are also feeling nervous about being away from our other children for three weeks. We expect this to be particularly hard on Mikaela and Matthias.

Today was a big day for Mikaela, since it was her fourth birthday. She has been looking forward to this for weeks, and has insisted that she wanted cupcakes instead of cake. By yesterday afternoon, she was so excited about the cupcakes, that whenever anyone asked her a question about her birthday, she yelled, "CUPCAKES" without bothering to listen to the actual question. "Mikaela, how old will you be tomorrow?" "CUPCAKES!" Silly girl. :-) Most of the time, I don't even think about the fact that she is adopted, but on days like her birthday, I always stop and think about what our life would be like without her. She is such a blessing and a treasure, and I can't imagine how empty life would be if she weren't a part of our family. I am so thankful that she is!

So much exciting news...

Greg and I just celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. My parents kept the kids for us so that we could have a little weekend getaway before the trip to China. We had a lot of fun, and accomplished many of the things that were on our list of things to do before leaving. One of the things that I accomplished was to write a long and detailed blog post explaining all of the things that have happened since my last update. Instead of posting it, I saved it to let Greg have a chance to look over it first. Last night, I went into the blogging app to post it, and it was gone. I don't have any idea what happened to it, or why my usually reliable blogging app decided to delete my post without my permission. Thank goodness it wasn't any thing more important than a blog post. We do have lots of wonderful news to share with everyone, and I am going to try once again to type that information up in a post.

When I last posted, we had just gotten our LSCs and were waiting for approval from the US department of immigration. We have gotten our provisional approvals and sent those on to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China. They have processed our papers and issued our Article 5, and we are now just waiting on our travel letter from Beijing. We are hoping very much that will come next week. As long as it does come by next Friday, we think that we will leave for China on Friday, August 9th. If the travel letter comes later, then we will have to wait until August 16th to leave. Either way, one month from right now we should be in China. We think that we are going to finalize Hallie's adoption first, and then travel south to get Isabelle. A month still seems like a very long time to wait, but we know that it will go quickly. We have a lot to accomplish between now and then.

The other wonderful news that we have to share is that our adoption is fully funded!!! We can still hardly believe the wonderful news. Several friends of ours made very generous donations, and we did receive one more grant. We have enough money to pay for the adoptions and the 6 post-placement reports that are required for Chinese adoptions. We can continue to accept donations to help with their medical expenses etc, but we have every bit of the money that we need to bring the girls home! We both keep reminding ourselves of this again and again, because it just doesn't seem possible. We knew when we started this adoption process that God would provide everything we needed, but knowing that He can provide is different than actually seeing Him do it.

I mentioned earlier that we had spent a good bit of our anniversary weekend preparing for the trip. We both feel a lot less stress now that we have accomplished so much, and in addition to that, we had a lot of fun running those errands. It is fun to shop for our new girls! They now each have a new doll with two extra outfits, a little ball, some books, snacks, and I don't even remember everything else. We didn't have to buy them very many clothes, but we did get a few new things. We also bought some small gifts for our children who will be staying here. We hope that having my parents give them little gifts from us periodically while we are gone will help make the separation a little easier for them. And we had to buy birthday presents for Gabriela and Mikaela, my sister Shannen, and my brothers Ethan, and Owen, since all of them have birthdays in July or August. It was pretty crazy! But so much fun! We even managed to find time to hit the dollar theater to see the new Star Trek movie. It was our best anniversary ever!

Please join us in thanking and praising God for providing everything that we need to bring Isabelle and Hallie home where they belong. We will never be able to express how much we appreciate all of the gifts and support from people during this process. Please also pray for our little girls. We are asking God to work in their hearts to prepare them to be part of a family. They have never known the love of a family, and it will be an unfamiliar and frightening thing for them. Pray that they will adjust, and that God will give us patience to love our girls when they don't want to be loved, (even if they fight against our love at first), and that He will teach them to love us back. Our next update will probably include definite travel plans.