Tidbits

We had an awesome day today!!! It was the first day since I got Evie that we had just a "free" day to do as we pleased. We ended up at an amusement park just a couple of blocks away and had a blast. I will write all about that in a bit, but first I wanted to share a few tidbits about Evie that I keep thinking of and don't want to lose:

1- She is great with a fork, but even so she likes to watch me intently when I eat and then imitates all that I am doing, right down to the grip on my fork. It's like she is insecure about it and wants to make sure she's doing it right.

2 - She really is a very good girl. She had a couple of 'naughty' phrases she was saying (on the same level as the toilet thing) that the guides translated for me. I made it clear (in my awesome google translate version of Mandarin) that I didn't want her saying that. She stood there with this giant pout and tears pooling in her eyes, looking very repentant. I mean, I wasn't yelling at her, just telling her in broken Mandarin that it was naughty and I didn't want her to say those things. It was clear by her expression that she got it. And she hasn't said any of it since.

3 - I've discovered that she doesn't like cheese or green peppers, but she loves corn, scrambled eggs, ramen, chips, and waffles. When she doesn't like something that's already in her mouth, she won't just spit it out, but she gives me a desperate look, like HELP me Mom!!!!

4 - She gets very excited about her new clothes every day when I bring out her outfit. I find it very cute that at such a young age she likes cute clothes. As soon as she's dressed, she runs in front of the full length mirror to check herself out.

5 - she wants to take her backpack everywhere. We were at the notary's office the other day and I had left her backpack in the car. She was chattering away with me like she always does, and some lady turned to me and said "she just said to you that she did not bring her backpack".

6 - She is very neat about her eating. She will eat entire cups of ramen and not get a drop on her outfit. She will also pick up little scraps as they fall so that when she is done, there is no mess in front of her. She can probably teach this skill to a couple of siblings.

7. She already recognizes Starbucks and points at it excitedly when we pass one!!! I had to train her well before I let her be exposed to Daddy's negative "I hate Starbucks" attitude.

Ridiculously Long Drive and Orphanage Visit

So we survived our ridiculous drive, and God delivered on an uneventful trip. I was nervous because I forgot to put a pull-up on Evie before we left and wasn't sure how well she would do on such a long drive. Well, she could be a poster child for bladder control. We stopped at a rest stop half way but she seemed about as terrified as I was by the horrific smell and dirty squatty potties and refused to go. Apparently her orphanage had a Western potty and she wasn't used to being out and about, because she seemed pretty clueless. Even so, she didn't have an accident the whole ride and waited until,we got to the hotel to go. I had also worried about car sickness, but it was thankfully not an issue. Praise God!!!!! Abby seemed to get sick on every single car ride for months when she fist came home, and I was dreading a repeat.

On the way there our guide explained that Wenzhou is known for being a leader in industry, and that if you meet a Chinese businessman traveling anywhere outside of China, they are most likely from Wenzhou. I know I did not see a single Westerner my entire time in Hangzhou (even the day I spent walking around the lake) but I saw a pile in just one night in Wenzhou.

The Dynasty Hotel was very fancy, but it had NO wifi in the room, which I found preposterous. What about all the business travelers that go there?? Even my rinky dink $60 airport hotel at Narita had wifi in the room. Good thing it was only one night. They did have great room service. I ordered the stir fried beef with chil peppers and it was absolutely delicious. Very worth it for $6 and not having to leave my room. Evie had the packaged ramen again, which she loves. Oh - and the room had an iron and ironing board, so I didn't look like I just got out of bed when I was running errands today (probably for the first time since I got here).

We started off today at the police station to apply for Evie's passport. One of the orphanage directors met us there. That went just fine - we were in and out of there in no time. Then we had the opportunity to visit the orphanage. I had gone back and forth on Tis because I wasn't sure it would be a great idea for Evie to have to go back there. I wasn't really sure how she would emotionally respond. In the end, I decided she was doing so well that it might be nice for her to go there with me and have a sense of closure. Maybe seeing her nannies talking with me and sending her off with me would be reassuring.

I was first of all shocked at the location of the orphanage. It is literally smack down in the middle of the city, crammed in amongst a pile of other buildings. As we drove up a ton of mostly older kids and several nannies were leaving in groups, apparently going out for a walk (or to get them out of my way? Don't know). The building itself was very nice and kept up very well.

First we went into the director's office, where she gave me Evie's immunization record as well as a pillow I had sent her with our family picture on it. It made me very sad because I don't think she had seen the pillow before today and the point of it was to help her get used to our faces. Oh well. I want to keep it because it is ice, with our picture on it and her Chinese name in English AND Chinese engraved on it, but I really don't have room for it. So I don't know what I will do.

From the time we pulled up to the orphanage Evie had been unusually quiet. She wasn't crying but just had the saddest look on her face. We took the elevator up several floors to where she spent most of her time. It was a playroom, the same one from all the pictures of her they had sent me. It was pretty good size, and had plenty of things for the kids to do. There were maybe about 10 kids there all around Evie's age, and about 4 nannies. Everyone was surprised by how quiet she wa because that is just NOT like her. They were talking to her about the fact that she was leaving, so I know she understood and was processing. All in all, I was impressed with how nice the facility was. All along the hallway there were different nurseries with lots of cribs filling each room. Some babies were scooting around in walkers. Sadly, they did not let me take any pictures. If you are reading this and are currently adopting from Wenzhou, contact me and I will be more than happy to share more details with you. I quite possibly met your child today, too.

As we were leaving, my guide is listening to the director talk to the nannies and suddenly turns to me and says "Oh - did you know that she was in foster care?".

"WHAT?????? No, I did not know that. I had zero idea. Please ask the director when she went into foster care. "

"When she turned two"

"She has been in foster care for the last year and a half??????"

"Well, I guess she spends the day here, but then goes to a foster family to sleep each night".

I really wish I had known this. She's having to say good-bye to a whole lot more than her orphanage. At the same time, it explains a lot about why she seems to have skills and abilities much more in line with her actual age than I expected for her having always been in the orphanage. She's had a lot more one on one than I thought. It really shows.

So my poor sweetie remained terribly quiet. We got back in the van, and she sat there looking stoic for a while, then finally shed a few quiet tears. She fell asleep, and when she woke up an hour later, was all smiles again!!!!

During the rest of the trip, she kept talking our ears off. The guide said she kept saying "Toilets smell stinky" and then cracking up. She said this so much that I am now able to say this phrase in Chinese. Highly important language skill. I am glad she's going to fit in with Daddy and Josiah so well. Funny thing is, she hasn't said it away from the van. I think she had said it once and the guide laughed, so it started a whole joke for her.

We are already making progress language wise. She calls me momma, sometimes refers to herself as Evie, and is starting to repeat a lot of words after me. Today I got her to understand I needed her to get my shoes. I think this is pretty cool, considering we have only had two full
days together.

Ok, I'm beat. We're back in Hangzhou at our same hotel. I just spotted Pizza Hut across the street and it's got my name written all over it.

The Story

First off, let me say that the last thing we planned was adding to our family again.
Five, well, is truly a handful of kids.
And as much as I love parenting, we really felt, well, COMPLETE.

Then we found out that China had recently changed some of their rules regarding adoption.
They were going to allow anyone adoptive parents to re-use a dossier already filed in China, if they started the process of adoption within twelve months of their last adoption being finalized.

And our hearts started stirring.
The whole "paper chase" to put together our dossier had been so daunting, we really had no desire to go through all that again anytime soon. We wanted to focus on school, and life, and just moving forward.

However, once we heard the news of the dossier being re-used, we started wondering if maybe
God wasn't opening up a window for us to step up in faith one more time. The window was very small, as it was almost the one year anniversary of Abby's adoption. So we prayed hard, and figured it was truly in God's hands. If this was His plan, we would have to be matched with a child pretty quickly.

We were thinking it would be a boy this time, as our heart had really been softened for the boys who wait in China, who seem to wait and wait, many times with no or very minor special needs.

God, however, had something else up His sleeve. And a few weeks later we were matched with our new daughter, Genevieve Grace (Evie). She just turned two this past May. She's got plump lil' cheeks. And such expressive eyes!

I absolutely cannot wait to get her home, and neither can anyone else around here. The girls, in particular, are bursting with excitement and already packing bags filled with the things they are going to "hand down" to their baby sister. It's also been a while since we've had a baby girl in this home, and so I'm stocking up on irrestible baby girl clothes. I put my sister on notice to let the shopping begin.....

We've kept this under wraps for a while because, having walked this road before, we fully understand how fragile the whole adoption process is. Basically, until that child is home with you, anything can happen. We didn't want to bring others on that emotional roller coaster with us. And frankly, although we have pre-approval from China, I still worry about things going wrong. But we are stepping up in response to His call, so once again I remind myself that if it is His will, it will come to be. We couldn't hold the news in any longer!!

I think it's too early to post pictures, and will hold off until our Letter of Approval from China is here. I'll just have to send out a private email or two if anyone just can't wait to lay eyes on her!!

Another exciting part to this adoption will be that we're planning to take the entire family to China this time!! We hope to be able to add some days on the front side of the trip to take Abby (well, all the kids, but I think it's of particular importance for her) to do some sight seeing. And it doesn't seem remotely daunting to do it from here - we don't even have to worry about jet lag!!! Abby can't stop talking about getting to see the Great Wall.

And if that wasn't enough excitement around here.....
SIX more days of school left!!!!