Sept. 18 - Nanjing/Guangzhou

Not my best friend....

My Best Friend!!! (I know McD's - I haven't given up on you - it's just that this is closer right now!)

Wearing Dad's shoes!!

I can not even explain it - all we did was fly and arrive - but we are whipped today! We flew out of Nanjing at noon - arrived in Guangzhou at 5pm, got our luggage and headed to the hotel and arrived around 7 pm. We just grabbed some dinner at our FAVORITE HAUNT - Lucy's!!! And now are heading to bed. It is exhausting - we tried to travel light - but let me tell you - 3 year old, backpacks, luggage, computer bag - well, you get the point. We aren't so light and the 3 year old is NO help!! : ) So it's been a day. But when you sit on that plane - you have a lot of time to think. I sat there and watched Joe and Jada sleep - and thought about how her little life has changed. She has just started to refuse almost all food we give her - we are feeding her the same things, but she isn't eating anymore. That is such a hard feeling as a parent - how in the world do you get her to eat!?!? But she's acting fine otherwise. So we don't think it's because she is sick. It makes my heart ache as I just think she is sad. We watch her almost every night - we lay her down - she doesn't fuss or fight - just lays there and tears run down her face. She is sobbing because you can see her chest move and hiccup, but the tears just flow. Totally breaks my heart. What in the world has this little girl been through?

We have a three year old that ...
...does not know how to grasp my hand or finger when we walk. I have to physically mold her finger around mine or her hand is flat and won't grasp.
...does not know how to be held - she is a still board - she does not grasp you to hang on - she would literally fall if you didn't hold her back like a baby.
...does not say hardly 3 words - so far we've heard "Mama", "didi" (Chinese for little brother), and "night-night". (Oh yes, and "Aaron", when we look at his picture.)
...just watches everything - she takes it all in - as her little eyes wiggle to capture it all.
...is just now starting to walk more assuredly - at first she was so hesitant you had to pull her along.

When I look at her alongside other 3 year olds I have known, it can be scary. She seems more like a one year old sometimes. Although, at other times, we are amazed at her. She follows us all over - she won't let us out of her sight - and she copies everything we do. If we wash our hands, she has to as well - she knows the routine, wash, dry, and gel cleanser. She cracks us up. She sits so politely at the table before we get our food - we almost forget she is there. Tonight she sat at Lucy's and took the signs off of the table and pretended they were babies again - she rocks them and sings to them and wraps them in napkins. I teared up just watching her - she loves to play babies - we've had water bottle babies, signs, door handle cards - they have all been babies. She can be so loving. She surprises us - she makes us laugh. I just want to know what is going on in her head - I can't wait for the breakthrough when she will start talking. She is so sweet - but oh so far behind. My heart just breaks - we love her dearly - wherever she is in her development, but we pray for breakthroughs.

Pray for us tomorrow - Jada has to have ALL of her shots redone - they told us to expect 6 or 7 and her TB test - that's the biggie - we need a negative. We covet your prayers for our little one. We could sit and worry but we give it all to our BIG GOD - the One who brought us here and led us to Jada. "He Knows"......At the airport waiting with Gabe and his mom.

Sept. 17 - Nanjing

We ate dinner last night - PAPA JOHN'S!!!!! - with our travelmates, the Danielson's, and then let the kids play for a bit. They tossed a beach ball back and forth and Gabe had great fun - Jada, on the other hand, is so reserved out in public - she hardly talks at all in front of other people and really only ran for the ball when Gabe wasn't around. It is very interesting to watch.
Today we visited the Brocade Museum in Nanjing. This is an amazing art to watch and there aren't many people left that can actually run these looms.

Oh yes, while we were at the Brocade museum, they had a fashion show and asked me to be in it!! RIGHT!! Well they did actually have a fashion show, the director of the museum came and sat by us and asked our guide if we'd like our picture taken - we weren't so sure about this - but we went and posed anyway. I felt a little underdressed!
Part of the wall built around Nanjing - wish we would have had time to see more of this wall, but we have run out of time in Nanjing. We leave tomorrow afternoon for Guangzhou - we are excited to move on as it's rained EVERY DAY here and hasn't made for many fun outings.

We would ask you to pray for us - now Jess, our travel partner's wife, is sick. We were hoping Gabe had something that would stick to only him, but now that Jess has it too - we are thinking it could easy be a bug. Joe and I have been on antibiotics the whole trip, but not sure it is something that will be affected by anitbiotics. Pray that Jess feels better soon and that NONE of the rest of us get it - we were trying so hard to be careful around little Gabe when he was sick, but that is hard to do when you are in a van together all day!

Sept. 16 - Nanjing

Director of Jada's Orphanage on Left (Mrs. Chen) - A Nanny on Right

Signing Away

Today has been a day!!! Our travel mates were up all night with a sick little boy and we felt so sorry for them - little did we know our turn was coming! Jada was still being her quiet, reserved self - slept from 9-7 and we had to wake her up to go to the Civil Affairs Office again. Once we hit that office, Jada became Jada the Stubborn and has stayed that way ever since. We said yesterday that it almost seemed like they had given her meds for the ride here - she just seemed so "out of it" - well today THE MEDS WORE OFF!!! Oh my word - she was a crazy girl. And here you are sitting in the office in front of the Chinese officials and we really needed to use some discipline and there was nothing we could do - for Heaven's Sake - we were signing papers that said we would love our child - even though, in our minds, discipline is loving!!! :) But we did the best we could - we were dripping with sweat - they told us it's the cool season now so they don't turn on AC very often! UGH!! We went to give them our fingerprints and Jada tried to take the red ink - she tried to take the papers - not sure we got one smiling photo since Joe and I were so frazzled!!! HELP!!!! This girl is SPICY!!! To top it off - I pulled something in the back of my leg and can barely walk - that was something- here's the crippled mom trying to curtail my wild child! And Joe was just passing out the Yuan. We were exhausted after that and wanted only to go back to our hotel and our guide thinks we need to go shopping. Yeah - Walmart with the wild child - all I was looking for was Calgon! I am hobbling behind our cart, Joe is carrying Jada because she was crying now, and he was dripping with sweat - so while I peruse the bananas, raw fish, and other unidentifiable objects - Joe stays in the freezer aisle- it's cooler there. Oh my - I think we're ready to come home now.

We will leave you on a good note though - God is keeping us feeling young - or VERY, VERY old!!!! And she is a hoot!! I will try to post a video of Jada playing with Dad - she never stops. Hmmm - wonder if we can find those meds they had her on!?!?!??! (We'll show them our Yuan!!)Gotta Love a Good Banana

Gotcha Day - Sept. 15

(Civil Affairs Office)

What a day! We were waiting at the Civil Affairs Office - signing papers and we see Jada get off of her little bus and walk into the office. Her orphanage director had been talking to us and immediately stopped to lead us over to Jada. They told her "Mama" and "Baba" and she repeated both words - oh so quietly. She didn't cry but went to me and one of the nannies gave her a bottle. (A bottle for a 3 year old - we weren't expecting that!! We may have to work on hiding that!!) She sat in our laps and never made a peep. She didn't want to look at us - just gave us little glimpses out of the corner of her eyes. There were no smiles - just a look of total blankness. Of course, we are trying to see how well she can see - checking her out up and down. She came to us in a diaper, but we are thinking that was just for travel. Whenever we set her on the potty she goes - so she must be trained. We got in our van to come back to the hotel and she almost fell asleep on Daddy until she woke up gagging - oops - another Bilby that gets car sick!! Caleb will have to share his bucket! We have had smiles, giggles, and she fed herself lunch. We count it all joy! The only tears we've had so far are when we tried to lay her down for her nap. No crying - just silent tears running down her cheeks. That's enough to make a momma cry too. The locals try to tell me she is a boy - Joe and I laugh and say "no, girl" but they shake their heads no at us! (Ok - I told you she needs some hair and some pink!!!)Here is what really breaks my heart - the people are clearly confused - they ask me if my husband is Chinese - I say No - they ask our guide why we want "China Children" - and she told them we had other children of our own but that we love children and want to have them in our family. They say we are very nice people! But we see them point at Jada's eyes - one lady very clearly was pointing at her eyes - that is the sad part - because she is not "perfect" people can not figure out why we'd want her. Joe and I have teared up a few times today - we will take her!! We love to see her smile, I love to help guide her feet over a new color of floor when she is hesitant, I love it when we put lotion on her feet and she won't let us stop - she smiles the whole time, I love it when she tries to play games with me when we are eating, I love how she wraps her baby in her napkin like a blanket and cradles the baby in her arms, and I love it when she looks up at me and says "Mama". She is perfect to us!
Xiaoxia (pronounced "Show" (as in shower) and "Sha" as in Cha, cha cha but with the "sh" on the front.) is napping right now and then we'll head out and see more of Nanjing tonight. This little one is overwhelmed by it all, I am sure. But she smiles - that's all worth it! God is good - His plan is good!

Sept. 14 - Nanjing

We made it to Nanjing!! Yes, brave Becky got on the train - that was ALL Joe's idea - and once our agency found us a "safe" train and gave us the go-ahead - I started feeling like backing out! I mean really - 2 foreigners, train, 4 pieces of luggage - oh my, I just saw trouble there! But I have to eat crow and admit that it was quite fun - the train is one of the fastest around - went over 200 km/hr at some points - and we saw so much of the countryside of China - it was gorgeous. I do think we were the only Caucasians on the train though and many had a hard time not staring at us - not to mention those that had seat numbers beside us and went out of their way to find a new seat! Oh well - I don't blame them - it's scary to sit by Joe and I -ask our friends!!

Well - if it didn't feel real - it does once you hit your province. The rooms are all ready for Jada!

That crib really makes things seem real!! This is a very nice hotel - look what they delivered to us - the paper and a rose - hmmm, one could get used to this real fast!!
View from our room - a nice garden outside the front of the hotel - we thought it was so pretty...
...but it got even better at night - WOW!
We met up with the Danielson's and that was a fun evening - we were really wanting some companionship so that was a nice gift! (We were missing our travel group from last time - it is so nice to have those comrades!!) We went to Burger King for dinner :) and then went for a walk to look around Nanjing - another city that I am enjoying seeing - China is just full of such amazing cities.

We are told that our little ones will have to get up around 6 to leave their orphanages and head to Nanjing. We were warned they might be hungry AND crabby - we had to laugh - crabby is the least of our worries!! Both the Danielson's and Joe and I are wondering what it will be like to take a 3 year old and turn their whole world upside down. Not only are we unfamiliar, but so is the whole outside world. My heart goes out to Jada - this will be a day that will be SO hard for her, but we pray that she softens quickly - that she learns to love us like we love her - and that we can be a blessing to her. We will send some pictures your way tomorrow when we've ALL had time to adjust!