Gotcha Day!

This morning 12 little toddlers met their forever families. We finally met our little Ben. He is absolutely the sweetest little thing. He never even whimpered.  Honestly, the only time he cried all day is when they had to take his footprint for our adoption paperwork this afternoon.  Leah was the best big sister ever.  We couldn't believe how well she played with him and cared for him all afternoon. We have decided that Ben's new nickname is going to be HC in honor of the book The Hungry Caterpillar. One day one he ate through one bag of puffs, one banana, one squeezable bag of broccoli, one bag of carrots, one tub of fried rice, a plate of chicken and one cookie. Whew...

The sibling play area at the Civil Affairs office.

Ben was next to last to arrive so we had the opportunity to take pictures and watch the other children meet their families.

Ben finally arrives!

As I mentioned above... he is our very own hungry caterpillar!

After a full day of being a great big sister, Leah crashed on the floor.

Travel Day... One day before Leah becomes a big sister.

Today we traveled from Beijing, a city of 20 million, to Zhengzhou where Ben will be brought to us.  Zhengzhou, pronounced Gin-Joel in hillbilly phonics, is another 3-5 million city the world never knew existed or at least I didn’t.  Other than being the new kids in town it seems like home because we wasted no time in getting a shopping party assembled and tracked down the street to Wal-Mart.  Cary and I spent an hour plus buying two bags of snacks, soda / water, and fruit.  Same long lines half way around the world and you have to think Sam Walton is smiling somewhere.

Leah and I continue to get a lot of looks and I keep telling her they’ve never seen a white man with such a big neck.  She validated my theory when she overheard some of them say, ”Look there’s the man they couldn’t hang because the rope just slipped off”. Cary says it's her blonde hair drawing everyone's attention and I really hope that's the case.

Leah told me earlier she didn’t want to share her toys with the other kids who just showed up with other families today.  So tomorrow will go smother if she has a change of heart overnight, but we’re hoping Ben will win her over and she finds her newest best friend.  It’s getting late and we have a big day tomorrow, so keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  Cary has been buzzing around the room nesting the last hour and will be back in the blogger’s chair tomorrow.

Climbed the Great Wall and bought the tee-shirt.

Cary, Leah, and I are packed and ready to leave Beijing in the morning and we had another great day despite the jet lag we're all working through.  As Cary mentioned earlier Leah scaled the Great Wall better than both of us and we literally had to hold her back, her effort was rewarded with a one of a kind tee-shirt that will have all the kiddies at Rose Hill talking.  Leah also got a nice fan that she wanted, but I think I came out the winner when I bought my 25 cent package of toilet paper. 

We ventured to the night market down the street yesterday evening and wasn't disappointed with the foods on display, a regular fried food paradise except for what was on the stick.  If it walked or crawled someone was choking it down.  We made it a 100 feet or so before turning back for the hotel, our Chinese Big Mac couldn't take that kind of competition.  Definitely odd to see scorpions being roasted across the street from a super swanky shopping mall with an Apple store and Tiffany’s, but it seemed normal to everyone. 
 
We're traveling with a great group of people from all parts of the country. 

The Great Wall

Today the weather was perfect.  The rain that went through last night took the hot weather with it.  Leah was excited about climbing up to the "castle" and definitely gave Dave and I a run for our money.  She was faster going up those stairs than we were.  In addition to be being the first day of the Chinese Dragon Boat festival, today is Ben's 2nd birthday.  In two more days we will get to meet our little guy.

Hello from Beijing

Today we had a wonderful day of meeting our travel group members and touring the city of Beijing.  Unlucky for us, Beijing is experiencing an unseasonably warm spring.  According to the weather channel today's high was 101 f.   Tonight it rained and hopefully tomorrow the temps will be normal again.

We visited tin-amen square and the forbidden city.   Later this afternoon we enjoyed a rickshaw ride to a local family's home for lunch.  I guess the true highlight for me today was Leah using the squatty potty for the first time.  She was amazed by the hole in the floor. As soon as we got back to the group she demonstrated the proper technique for Dave.  What a trouper she is. Despite the heat we had a wonderful day.  Tomorrow we are off to the Great Wall.

Our Blessing from China, the sequal

Last October Leah told me at the end of prayers one night, "mama we need to remember my baby brother and his nose and his mouth". Two months later we were matched with a beautiful little boy who was born with a cleft lip and palette.  Yesterday we started our journey to China to bring home Hu Guang Yuan (aka Ben).

Each day I will try to post a bit about our trip.  I have to admit though the photos may be limited.

Today we realized that our computer may not be working the entire time.  Dave forgot his power adapter in Arica. When he called to remind me to bring with me his extra, I threw in the wrong charger for his work computer not his personal machine, ugh! Luckily the iPad is charged and working.  Given the low battery life on the laptop, we are going to wait until gotcha day and post all the excitement at once.

Home Sweet Home!

It's hard to believe at this time exactly one week ago today we were boarding a flight to Tokyo to start our journey home.  Our girl traveled like a real pro.  Several of the individuals seated near us on the plane commented on how well she behaved.  I will admit, once, about 7 hours into the flight from Tokyo to Detroit she did have a "moment" and felt the need to let everyone in our section of the plane know that she was tired and was more than ready to put her feet on the ground.  Luckily after an hour of crying she completely wore herself out fell asleep for the rest of the flight.

When we arrived home we were met at the airport by 24 of our friends and family members.  We were completely exhausted but thrilled to see everyone with their signs and balloons. We feel so fortunate to have so many wonderful people in our lives who, of course, all loved the girl.

This week I have enjoyed taking a break from travel and blogging.  It's been so nice to stay at home and just enjoy our time as a little family. The three of us are still slowly adjusting to the time change and Leah is gradually whipping Dave and I into shape.  It has been such a fun time.  Over the next few weeks I'll try to post periodically and give you a little glimpse into our crazy world, but for now you will simply have to settle for a few "Welome Home" photos.  Take care everyone!