Momma, Mommy, Mom

I've made the transition with Olivia through the list above.  Actually she hears Abigail and copies her.  Who knew those names could be so annoying???

 

The struggle around home right now is that we just don't have two of EVERYTHING.  I was warned about this {Brenda} but am seeing it first hand.

It ranges from things like a bicycle helmet, kids sunglasses to one child having LOOOOONNNNG hair that can be put into a bun and one having very short hair that really can't {well, it did}.  We have this antique rocking chair that was my aunts when she was a little girl...well, let me just say, its VERY popular suddenly and I wish we had another :).

Day two of school went well again; wish I had pictures but the 45 MPH+ winds prevented that.  Thought Olivia was going to fly away, what with the backpack and all...it was comical seeing her excitement to ride the bus for the first time coupled with the fierce wind pulling her tiny body away...

The girls are getting along well, for the most part.  No real fighting, just some whining.  I'll take this gift, and thank the Lord for all of it.  Sometimes its hard to remember what a blessing this really is, but we are getting there...life is good.

 

Easter Weekend

Things around here have been pretty "normal".  Olivia is catching on and we are to her as well.  She's an hornery little thing, that one! 

We had a good weekend, finished up our bathroom tile project, had a date night with the hubby which was VERY nice and spent Easter Sunday praising the One who gave His all for US.  We went to church where both girls participated in singing a group song with the other kids;

then spontaneously hit the buffet at Quaker Steak & Lube while my ham sat in the fridge.  Who knew they had a buffet?  While it was tasty, it was a tad on the expensive side so we won't be doing that again...

So Much Fun

A lot has gone on the past week as we all get used to our new family structure, but today was the best.  Abigail had school, Bern went turkey hunting and I was home with Olivia for the first time, really just the two of us.  We got Ab on the bus, had breakfast and then went to run errands.  We went up to school and after much discussion, she is going to start Kindergarten on Monday with Abigail.  There are only 18 school days left and the principal and guidance counselor think its the best thing.  Then I will send her 1/2 days this summer to school, working on the language and reading skills.  She impressed the doctor yesterday by writing her numbers all out to 100!!  I don't think Ab can do that.  So, we'll do all this and then decide what grade she will go into next school year.  Great plan!  BUT the best thing was, we had a really good time together and I got some hugs and snuggles and just had fun. 

After dinner tonight, we put them to work doing dishes, no sense waiting, right?  Just kidding child services, they wanted to do it...

A New Normal

We made it home last Wednesday night unscathed.  After 26 grueling hours traveling from Guangzhou to Shanghai to Chicago to Home...just grueling.  All in all Zijing did well.  She didn't like having to put her seat belt on at the end of the big leg and started her whimpering, but she came out of it fairly quickly.  Both girls slept a good bit thankfully {must be nice}and were pretty pleasant in the long run.  

We were greeted at the airport by a small group of friends and family, so good to see familiar faces; especially Jack....thank you all so much!  We got home and Bern cooked burgers at 1:30AM; they were SO good.

So now we have a new normal; two girls to get to bed, get teeth brushed, fed, etc.  Abigail lapsed right back to her underwear wearing, sheet hugging, couch laying self and Zijing is so far going with the flow.  She was dressing up Barbies, doing their hair (even with a hand challenge) and seems happy...just like normal.  Life is good.

UPDATE: Reality Check

I am having some struggles with my sweet girl. She definitely prefers Baba which is still okay, but she has taken to actually shunning me at times, dirty looks and all.  Abigail goes back to school tomorrow and it will be mostly she and I as Bern will be hunting, so....we'll see!  Lots of alone time with drs. appointments and such coming up before we immerse her in school {a whole 'nother concern of mine}.  So thats the story from Home.  Lots of pics to upload, but jet lag and a chest cold have prevented ANY sort of physical exertion here.  This too shall pass!

We've Hit The Great Wall

To quote my husband...its time to get home to our own beds, a GIANT burger (Jack, have some burger thawed cuz dad's firing up the grill no matter what time we get home) and all the comforts of home.  There is a bit of intestional "stuff" running through everyone as well (no pun intended), so looks like we will pass on the suckling pig for dinner :(   Olivia has adjusted pretty well, she finally had a bit of grieving instead of her nervous laughter and she is catching on to our English.  The hardest thing for me is when she talks in my ear in bed and expects me to answer...I feel like I am robbing her of something so special.  We are going to look for some mandarin speaking folks to help us as well as an ESL tutor for her.  She was in first grade here as best we know and she speaks Mandarin AND Cantonese, which is amazing...smart little cookie.  With her size, we could put her into first and try it or even K but I'm just not sure...we'll let the school system do their thing. 

The guys are going "across the road" later, into "NO RESERVATIONS" territory, where is Anthony Bourdain?  Not that they will eat anything...just sayin'

SISTERS!

 two things she loves...FOOD and Hair clips...oh, three...BABA too!

and speaking of FOOD, check out the white tiger swimming...he may have been hungry as well?!

Yesterday...

We went back to the medical place to have Olivia's TB test checked and she got the all clear.  That was a concern because if it was positive and then her XRay showed positive, we'd have been stuck waiting for a 30 day quarantine...well, thankfully that wasn't the case at all!  Then Connie, our guide, took us to the Pearl market and then the Jade market.  When we came over in 07, I had purchased some beautiful pearl strands for each of my kids, either for them or for their wives on their wedding day.  I needed to pick up another strand and accomplished that.  I could have had a strand of Mikimoto pearls for 1/3 of the price, but we didn't go THAT nice.  Bern helped me pick out a little pearl ring for myself and then we looked a jade.  Jade has three classes, A, B and C.  We can't tell the difference between them, but to the Chinese, Jade is like our diamonds.  I didn't find anything I needed as we shot that wad back in 07 too!  Then we all went to the Guangzhou Restaurant, where we had a traditional Cantonese lunch.  It was very good but not adventurous enough for Bern...By the time we did all that, dinner was an afterthought and the girls had cupOnoodles in the room!  We had Tsing Tao!  Yummo!

Busy Day!

We started out early today and headed to the US Consulate after our umpteenth trip to the breakfast buffet here at the Victory.  Bought done with THAT!  The process has changed a bit since 07 but the end result is the same and it went surprisingly fast.  There was one little glitch, here comes the cringe factor...when going through security where you put all your stuff on the conveyor belt, our little ZiJing went and put her hand on the belt and it sucked her middle finger of her left hand, the one she does everything with, into the belt.  The guard saw it and stopped the belt, but they had to reverse it to get her finger out.  Can you say OUCH!?  I know it throbbed and it continued to swelll...poor dear, she sobbed and sobbed until she threw up on baba's shoulder...nice.   She finally calmed down once we got outside and saw our guide.  A bandaid later and it was off to the Safari Park.  Now mind you, her finger is not broken but she may never let me look at it...

The park was huge and very nice but after feeding the giraffes, seeing the beautiful white tigers in captiviy :( and walking for what seemed like HOURS (2 1/2), we left early, found our driver and headed back.  Can I just say that ZiJing talked to our driver the.whole.way.home.  She must have been hard up to hear some Mandarin, it was sooo funny.  Bern tipped him extra for amusing her...btw, his name was "Jack"...figures!

Tonight we are joining some other folks for a traditional hot pot dinner with our guide, we are looking forward to some yummy stuff!

A word from Baba

The most difficult thing we have experienced is Zijing's attachment to me.  It really upset me the first few days that she seemed to be stuck to me like glue.  I have come to accept all her attention but see how much it upsets Wendy.  Please pray and add words of encouragement to Wendy and pray I will stop stressing about it as we know time will change things. 
Ba Ba

A few pictures to pass the time

Visit to the SWI

Today we made our way to ZiJing's orphanage, Dongguan Children's Welfare Institute.  It wasn't a requirement but we had visited Abigail's and felt the need to have that closure for the girls.  We took an hour and 1/2 trip there and spent about 2 hours visiting with one of the assistants.  We got to visit the babies, which was very difficult. They wouldn't allow me to take any pictures inside but suffice it to say, there were many of them and they so needed loved on.  The amazing thing was our little girl, she went from crib to crib, loving on them...kisses and touches for all.  You could see how compassionate ZiJing is, she will be missed there if she was allowed to do that with any frequency.  We were moved to tears by these little angels, and Bern prayed a covering over them...This particular CWI houses approximately 800 children, most of them special needs.  That is just one city in this province; there are many other orphanages throughout China.  Sigh*

While we were there, we did take pictures outside, there is a beautiful statue of a mother and child.  I'd post pictures except that our battery died in the camera and guess who didn't pack the charger????  :(

When we got back, Bern and Zach went for a walk and found a Sony store; luckily they had my charger.  Thank God!  So now I have a charger with a China type electrical plug....Bernie promised he'd upload our boatload of pictures tonight so I can post them....I know I keep saying that....sorry.

Dinner was at Cow and Bridge tonight, its a Thai restaurant on Shamian Island.  Last night we went to a traditional Cantonese restaurant and had pigeon...yes, pigeon.  It's a local delicasy and they can have it! Actually it was small with not much meat, but we had to try...the braised pork was excellent as were the other sides we had.  We want to go back before we leave and do the hot pot in the middle of our table, with our guide...we'll need help on that one! 

Its Official!

Today we went back to the Civil Affairs office and went through the process to finalize our adoption of Miss Olivia ZiJing.  She is officially a Meighen poor thing!!!  We decided to get some noodle cups and have lunch in the room, yesterdays adventure has me a bit wary of new experiences.  No one has gotten sick yet though, however, Bern's sense of adventure is miles ahead of mine!  The girls continue to bond and it is very sweet to see.  To God be all the glory on this one.  She is a smarty pants too, for someone who is the size of a four year old.  She counts to 100+ in Mandarin and talks a mile a minute.  She says Abigail like a pro and just repeats the heck out of everything.  I keep waiting for the honeymoon to be over, but so far its been a cake walk.  To see her work a bow with her bad hand is literally amazing.  She has adapted VERY well.  The hard part is to be out in public and see the stares her own people give her.  Guess that explains why she was discarded as a baby...its disturbing and sad on so many levels. 

ANYWAY, we go to the police station later to pick up some official papers and tomorrow is her TB test.  Some touring is finally on the agenda, the Safari Park, a temple of some kind and also the pearl market to purchase Olivia a strand of pearls for her wedding some day.  We did this back in '07 when we came for Abigail for all three kids so I need one more strand.  We've done the standard purchases here on the island, dresses and such.  Still need to pick up a tea set to add to my collection...but I SWORE I wouldn't buy up the place like last time...really....I promise...

More pics to come tonight, seriously.

Culinary Delights

My two guys have ventured "off the island a few times to get the real feel of China, like Anthony Bourdain.  So today we ALL went across the big bridge for lunch in search of a noodle shop and found a little restaurant full of locals.  You know the deal, when in Rome....so we went in hoping for some noodles.  It was truly a Chinese restaurant. We picked our meal by the pictures and not a soul spoke our language.  Ended up with some awesome green beans stir fried in some sauce, a bowl of noodles and the main dish, fish stew.  We didn't realize that was what we ordered, but whatever.  It really wasn't bad, if there were no bones...and for some reason, on a dare, Zach ate one of the eyeballs...yikes!  All in all it was pretty tasty, but I have to say I was very nervous "over there". 

Olivia continues to amaze us with how easily she is fitting in.  There is that whole language barrier, but Bern is working hard to speak Mandarin to her and she just talks right back...its so cute because we have no real clue what she is saying.  She is repeating our English and is very clear about what she does say.  I expect she will be fluent in no time.  She is eating well and sleeping well too.  Prayers for this to continue are greatly appreciated!  I know it will be hard for her once she is completely away from here and that makes me sad. 

Abigail continues to be a good big little sister to her, even though jealousy is there at times and sleep comes way too early for all of us. 

Tomorrow we go back to the Civil Affairs office to finalize our paperwork. We've sort of been on free time as the last few days were a holiday similar to our Memorial Day and we have a bit of cabin fever.  It'll be good to get out a bit.  We'll get some more pictures up soon, promise!

Adjustment

Many of you have asked how Abigail is adjusting to her sister.  She is actually doing better than I am!  She has kind of taken on the role of big sister, especially since she is a head taller than ZiJing.  She was very scared before we left home and when I asked her yesterday if she is still scared, she said no.  She has been very helpful and plays great.  ZiJing is catching on to our language very fast, not necessarily saying things but she is understanding.  What she does say, she says well.  She also has the high 5 down pat, thanks babe!  My adjusting has been harder and I can't explain it very well.  She's not a baby but she IS a baby in so many ways...tiny as can be, the language barrier makes it seem like she's a baby as well.  She tries very hard to make us happy, and is cute as a bug...so, I wish I could explain how I feel.  At the end of the day, I will say things are different but not THAT different and she is a doll. Can't wait to get her arm looked at, it will be an amazing change for her and what a difference that will be.  Children are a gift from God and this one is no different...


p.s. We are so ready to go home :(

Here are the Pictures

My husband figured a way to make it happen.  Enjoy a few pictures!

She's So Tiny

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we can't get picitures to upload through the portal :(  I have a call out to Super Chris and hope to resolve my issues in the morning.

On to little Miss Olivia...she is the most petite little thing!  And we got kisses today!  She has the sweetest disposition, its very hard to believe she is almost 8.  But the girl is smart...she repeats us constantly which our guide says is a great sign and we have been able to communicate fairly easily....and then there's the giggle, did Bernie mention that?  She has this nervous energy and giggles through everything!  It often becomes a full belly laugh that is very contagious.  So all in all, things are progressing very well and if I wasn't so tired, I'd keep talking...more tomorrow.

Gotcha Day

After the whirl wind race we were off to meet our new daughter.  That is if the driver doesn't run over a couple hundred pedestrians on the way to the Civil Affairs office.  Before I go further I have to go backwards.  When we decided to adopt an older child we had a lot of preconceived notions in our heads based on all the reading and studying we had done.  We did not have real high expectations for our initial meeting.  But once again our God proved how little faith those of us professing believers have.  Our family has seen more than our share of answered prayers but we go in expecting the worst.  Before we left we laid out our prayer requests (same as they had been for the past 9 months), we prayed with many of your over the last week.  Gotcha Days all look different and I really did not expect this one to be filled with hugs and smiles.  I just wanted prayer for a short grieving period, the ability to communicate on some level and for God to prepare Olivia's heart.  Our brothers and sisters in Christ responded with continued prayer and again God showed me why I believe and why I try so hard to be obedient (failing often).  He knocked this one out of the park.

We had our game plan, get to the office, do some paper work and wait for the coordinated hand off.  We entered the room (where we would meet her} and sat down on the couch.  Everyone was very nervous and more than anxious.  We all sat down and began making small talk.  I got up to go across the room to take a picture and out of a side room runs Olivia Zijing yelling Baba, Baba.  I bend down on my knees and before the cameras were rolling or the paper work started she jumps into my arms and begins to hug me while she was smiling from ear to ear.  UNBELIEVABLE.  Never in my wildest dreams could I have ever imagined. 

I sit before this computer humbled at how He shows us his faithfulness.  Yes Olivia has been with us less than 24 hours, and yes Abigail's gears are grinding to see how this whole family thing is going to play out with a new competing sibling and yes we are in this way too early to call victory and adjustment.  But WOW I am speechless.  We got through the last 5 hours with out an interpreter and got the potty thing down.  Abigail wishes Zijing spoke English and she will repeat anything you say to her.  Olivia is very nervous and giggles at everything.  We suspect the giggling is a nervous system overload (poor thing). 

The girls (including Wendy) are in bed, Zachary is in bed and I should be.  I am running on fumes based on that travel schedule but I had to get this out there for you good and faithful servants who needed to know. Keep praying for adjustment, bonding and that Abigail adjusts as well.  This is so much for two little girls to go through and  I think Abby got a look back into her past today which will help her better understand her story.  Enough for now

Post from Baba - (photos and more tomorrow but from Wendy)

The Amazing Race

Well we made it to Hong Kong with only a two hour delay which is a big success.  All travels went well, had dinner with some old friends and took the express tour of Kowloon Firday night after arrival.  A jet lag night with little sleep and it was off to the train for Guangzhou.  How we covered so much ground in such a short period of time is nothing less than remarkable.  We no more got checked into the Victory Hotel and we left to go meet Olivia Zijing. 

Travel Prayers answered (check)