Free Day in Nanchang

Yesterday was a slightly uneventful day.  It was our first day with the girls without anything required of us.  We are just waiting for paperwork to clear through the province.   So after breakfast we caught a taxi and headed to the people's park.

Taxi rides

Esther rides up front to help her not get sick.

Parks here aren't like our parks -they aren't full of swings and slides.  They are beautiful with gardens but the equipment isn't play equipment - it's for working out on.  Every park has a bunch of gym-like equipment and there are many people working out on it.  It's pretty cool.

Some  men doing Tai Chi.  So cool.

What some of the parks do have is amusement rides.  And since we're new parents once again we spent a small fortune on those rides to entertain the girls.

 Our favorite was actually the cheapest.  For $5 you can rent a little boat for 30 minutes and drive around a pond.  It was relaxing, the sun was finally out, and the only people that could stare at us were the other boaters.  And stare they did.   And take pictures - I guess that is so they could stare at us on their computer monitor too.  But we all took turns driving and it was a pretty good time.

  But it was also where Pearl staged her first tantrum.  When her turn was over we had to peel her from the wheel and she sat and "cried" which was more like a drawn out whine for the next 10 minutes until it was her turn again.  And once we made her get off the boat it started again.  And if we didn't think we were drawing enough attention to ourselves before - she made sure everyone got a good show.  She went limp like a noodle and continued to cry for at least 20 minutes - sliding out of the stroller and onto the ground so that Mike had to carry her.  It was fun.  But it was also a sign that we might be overdoing it a little.  So we headed home - running an errand or two on the walk back to the hotel.  At the grocery store she did it again and lay on the floor by the check-outs.  This was totally bizarre to everyone but we didn't want to give it to much attention.  I did snap one photo. ;)

 Once we got back we used google translate to explain to the girls that if they are not behaving we can not do fun things so swimming was going to have to wait until after some good behavior.   It is really difficult to parent without speaking the same language.  But they understood.  They really seem happiest when we just stick around here so we've decided to stay here at the hotel as much as possible for the next couple days to give them some more time to adjust before heading out again.   Their favorite activity is playing on our phones.  We limit it as much as we can but it gives everyone a nice break sometimes.

Also, our fear that they wouldn't speak the same language didn't prove to be an issue because while Esther speaks a different language at home - throughout China all children learn and speak Mandarin at school.  They are so cute together - I love to hear them call each other little sister(mei mei) and big sister(jie jie).

Pearl showing Esther the images she came with from her life at the orphanage.

Esther's Second Day

It turns out that we do have fast enough Internet here to blog but only in the morning.  I am grateful Chelsea could update all of you because we were all on pins and needles about getting Esther.

Well, it is Friday morning in China and things are going better than we could have hoped for.  It is so hard to blog about our experiences over here because they are so different from home life and each and every moment could fill a blog post.  From the crazy things we’ve seen in the traffic to the poverty peeking through to the constant noise and commotion to the sights and sounds.  If ever there is a slow spot in conversation with friends I will have great stories to tell.

You can see how the girls are feeling.  Pearl is nervous about being  loved by us still and her new older sister and Esther is wishing she weren't there.

 And so, what happened?  Well, the first afternoon went really well.  We went up to our room and everyone felt pretty out of sorts but once we started showing her the clothes we got her and things she started warming up.  Through Esther’s file and pictures we had deduced that she was a shy girl but we seem to have been wrong.  Esther is SO talkative.  She is either speaking in Chinese, repeating what we’re saying in English or singing to herself.  We also guessed that she was a tomboy but once again – wrong.  She was only interested in the girliest clothes we got her, she was SO excited to get her nails painted – for the first time ever, and she loves having her hair done.

   We also got to give her another first – swimming.  Pearl now loves swimming and so when she asked to go once Esther was here Esther seemed pretty set against it.  When we asked her a couple of times if she would like to swim she firmly replied in English, “No.”   So I hopped on google translate and explained that the water was not deep and suddenly the light switched on In her mind and she said just as emphatically, “Yes!” So we got her in a swimsuit – as story in and of itself – and took her down to the pool.  She was singing and jumping and shouting hooray the entire elevator ride down until we were in the pool.  She was overjoyed to be in the water.  After the pool we put both girls in a bubble bath and they sang and splashed and talked and talked for quite a while.  They are becoming fast friends.  How strange it is to make sisters of these two sweet girls.

 After the bath we got dressed and headed out to dinner in the rain.  Because of the weather we had to gather under umbrellas – Esther and I under our own.  She was very sweet and said to me in pretty clear English, “Hello, my name is Xiangzhuang, nice to meet you.”  The walk was through the busy streets of China with all of it’s lights and sounds and was pretty dreamy.  At dinner Esther could see that her parents were completely lost so she took over and ordered food and got us all situated.

Everyone drinks hot water here because you can't drink water straight out of the tap - it has to be boiled.  Here was the kettle at the restaurant.  Looking pretty old.

Our meal options.  We had no idea what these things were.

In the window of the restaurant - hello pig head.

I love the duck carcass next to the power strip.

 She was so helpful with Pearl since we’re terrible with chopsticks and serving noodles and she hummed and sang her way through dinner.  Once back at the hotel we watched some amazing Chinese TV show ;) about magical girls or something and both girls were totally into it.  It was a nice break for Mike and I.  At bedtime the girls cozied up and read together, drew pictures and played with the little dolls that Jessica gave us – btw – those were brilliant.  Esther was so sweet with Pearl and Pearl ate it up.  She looked through all of the artwork that Pearl brought from the orphanage –one by one – and even held them up to show us as well like, “Isn’t she so good, Mom and Dad?”

Looking at Pearl's art together.

They giggled their way to sleep with lots of whispering under the covers until our hearts seemed like they might burst with happiness.

This morning at the breakfast buffet Esther seemed to love the endless good food and trying our selections and sharing her own.  After breakfast we hurried out with our guide, Claire, to get the paperwork side of Esther’s adoption taken care of – visiting three different offices.  Lots of waiting for the girls and they were bored.  Oh, and Esther gets car sick as well so that was interesting.  Apparently most people in China don’t own cars and so children – especially children from the lower classes – don’t ride in cars that often.  Add to that the craziness of traffic in China and who can blame them?  The paperwork took several hours and the girls were very bored and I think it gave them time to start to really think about what was happening.

 Once we were done we took everyone out for lunch to a dumpling restaurant.  It was good food but I think it was starting to sink in for Esther that she’s not just on some fun sleepover- she’s going to stay with us forever – on the other side of the planet.  By the end of lunch, tears were streaming down her face and she didn’t want to look at us or have us look at her.  Our hearts were breaking for her and we finished up as fast as we could and got a taxi back to the hotel.  By the time we got up to our room and broke out some sticker books she was doing so much better.   We are realizing that urban China can be overwhelming for anyone and that in times like these being bored at the hotel isn’t all that bad.
Last night we headed out to town in a taxi and had dinner at Pizza Hut.  Pizza Hut in China is a super nice restaurant and we had to wait nearly an hour to get a table.  But the girls were excited and loved their pizza.  We got two large pizzas - which were just barely bigger than a personal size in America.  After dinner we got ice cream cones and walked around town and eventually back to our hotel.  It was a super fun night an we were all in good spirit with lots of hand holding and sweetness.
Things continue to get better and more comfortable though Esther is obviously still frustrated that we can't understand her.  We are grateful for these girls and that they are finally in our life.  We can't wait to bring them home to the boys.  I am more homesick than I could have imagined and miss those boys so much.  My heart aches for their hugs and kisses.

Esther's Gotcha Day

Megan and Michael do not have adequate internet access, so I (Megan's sister) am writing to give you a few details about Esther's "Gotcha" day.  I am sure you are all dying to know how everything went because I know I woke up anxious to check the blog to see how things went!  Here is how Megan described it all:  "We arrived at the hotel at 1 p.m.  Pearl seemed very nervous and we think it is because she was used to getting all of our attention and she was worried about what would happen next.  It seems like it would be difficult to get attention in an orphange with lots of children including babies and not as many caretakers.  You can only get attention if you are actively seeking it. We were waiting for what seemed like forever but was only 15 minutes.  Esther arrived at 1:15 with another girl who will be adopted on Monday.  She does not know this girl, but since they shared a car ride for 5 hours, they were comfortable together.  Esther seemed quiet (which we expected) and sort of tentative (normal), but it seemed like this other little girl was leading Esther around, giggling and telling her things like "Ooh, that is your family" and maybe keeping Esther from relaxing and getting to know us.  We were anxious to leave the lobby and go to our room so we could just focus on each other.  When we returned to the room, Pearl immediately started asking if we could go swimming.  Esther got a scared look on her face and said "no" with her head that she did not want to go because she doesn't know how to swim.  With google translate, we told her it was shallow and that she could just stand in the water and wouldn't have to swim and immediately she got excited and agreed to go.  This was her first time swimming!  She got her bathing suit on and we went and they loved it. 
Esther comes from a family where the couple is older and very poor.  Our guide told us that her Chinese name is actually a boy's name and Esther seemed tomboyish in her photos.  After swimming we were showing Esther her clothes and we were kind of worried about whether she would think they were too "girly" because they were pink.  We were totally surprised when she chose the girliest one of all and LOVED it!  She wanted her nails painted and her hair to be done (her hair is much longer than the photos we had).  She is super chatty and sweet with Pearl.  They are very talkative and Esther is the sweetest big sister to her.  Esther is not shy at all and she is very happy!  We went out to dinner and it was raining so we all huddled under one umbrella as we ran to the restaurant.  That was kind of fun.  We did not have our guide with us, but Esther was so great because she communicated for us, ordered for us and was very attentive to Pearl (asking her if she wanted anymore, etc.)  Esther showed us that she knows a few English words like, "Hi!  My name is Esther."  When I said, "Hello!  my name is Megan," she said "Nice to meet  you." This was so great! When we came back to our room, the girls got in their p.j.'s and hopped on their bed to look at all of the pictures Pearl colored this week.  Esther was super sweet with Pearl and was very interested in her drawings.  Then, Esther read to Pearl from a book that she brought.  They are now under the covers giggling together.  We are pinching ourselves because we cannot believe we are so lucky to have these two happy, beautiful daughters who are already getting along so well.  We will not have good internet access for about a week, so we will not be able to update the blog, but just know that our day exceeded our expectations and we are so happy to have both of our girls. 

(I hope this does the experience justice, but I am sure Megan will rewrite it when she is able;)  Chelsea)

The Orphanage Visit.

Today we visited Pearl's orphanage and boy was it emotional.  There are SO many things to say about it but we're all exhausted so I'm going to have to promise to write about it more once I get home.  For now I'll say that Pearl's nannies are sweet woman trying very hard to love and care for more children than they really can  - adequately, at least.  They really are angels and Pearl was very close to several of them.  One nanny in particular would often take her home at night and Pearl called her Mama.  Once we were finally driving away Pearl, Mike and I were all having a good cry.  I wish I could expound upon that but really, we just don't have the time.  We have to be up early to fly to Esther's province - we get her tomorrow!!!  For now, here is her China "mama" with both Pearl and me.

On a lighter note - we had a relaxed afternoon of swimming and hanging out in the room.  Pearl is SO smart - as many of her nannies told me - and she has been surprising us with all that she knows and catches.  She can almost sing her ABC's and her handwriting is amazing.

Chocolate mustache and all.

Pearl's portrait of her new mama and baba(daddy).

Day Two with Pearl

Well, it's late afternoon on day two with Pearl.  She will now answer to Pearl though sometimes we still call her Yi Lin when we really want a fast response.  We plan on keeping her Chinese name as her middle name.

We have done SO much.  We weren't sure how much she would like to do because we figured she never did much of anything at her orphanage but when we got her they sent her with photos and we saw that she seems to have been taken out with the nannies - even spending time with their families.  So, sitting in the room wouldn't do - we needed to get out and do stuff!  Last night we ventured out for dinner and shopping.  We got her a stroller which she loves to ride around in.  Once we got home we still had hours before bed so we went swimming.  Pearl was in absolute heaven and showed us that she's pretty adventurous by challenging herself to put her face under the water.  She tried it again and again trying to do it for longer amounts of time.  It was impressive.  It was also really good bonding time because we could play and touch and have lots of skin to skin contact.

 After swimming we still had two hours to spare so we did a sticker game that we got and then we got out the glow sticks.  I would have to say that glow sticks are a must on every adopting parent's packing list.  She loves them.  We blew up some balloons and put the glow sticks inside and had a great time with the lights out.  At bedtime Pearl did great - she seemed to go right to sleep and she barely made a peep for nine hours.  We woke up way before her and anxiously waited for her to wake up.  We felt like parents of a new baby.

Today has been packed too.  This morning we went down for a breakfast buffet and watched our little lightweight put down tons of food.

 The rest of the morning were spent finishing up provincial paperwork and traveling to different offices.  She was pretty quiet and bored but well behaved.

We spent lunch in our room eating some noodles we got at Walmart and cooked up with our little plug-in kettle.  There was a lot of steam on the windows and Pearl made quick art of it.

This afternoon we went to a local park that had rides and fun activities.  We rode several and then spent time painting a ceramic figure - "pleasant goat" the cartoon character.  Pearl was in heaven though I do grow weary of being stared at so blatantly by EVERYONE!

 We then took the long way home just to use up some more time out of the room.  Right now Pearl and Mike are out swimming again.

All in all, our hearts are full.  We wish that we could communicate more with Pearl but we're all catching on an getting more comfortable.  Tomorrow we go to her orphanage which should be interesting for us all.  We are so grateful that we stuck through the hard times and took the leap of faith.  Pearl is now our girl and very soon Esther will be too.

Yi Lin

Today was Pearl's gotcha day.  We got to the civil affairs office just after 10 AM and about 3 minutes or less later Pearl showed up with her SWI workers.  She had thrown up on the way there and was pretty nervous when she came in - though she really wasn't bad.  We talked with her for a few minutes and within ten she was in our lap.  Within twenty she was repeating english words and showing us all the things she had brought.  When we got back to the hotel she immediately found the nail polish and requested that her nails be painted. After that she put makeup on me and her self.  We went out for lunch and she was sweet and happy and hungry.  Honestly, we are dumbfounded.  We expected so much worse.  We know she has many things to work through in the future but she is happily playing preschool games on my phone on the bed behind me.  She is physically affectionate, giggly, beautiful, and SO smart.  We are so blessed to finally have her in our arms.