Gotcha! (again)

When we arrived at the Civil Affairs office at 10:15, Mollie was already there. We were the only family - some days there are as many as 10. I can't imagine that moment in a crowded room. I walked in and sat down next to her and the two orphanage workers. Finally I asked someone to get my camera, so there might be a few pictures of this. Mollie was very sad and/or mad at first. She kept her head down and pushed me away. Nothing worked, not candy or water or stuffed animals or even sweet sisters. But then she said she needed to use the bathroom, and the workers told me to take her. She allowed me to walk with her and show her where it was, but she told me bye bye once we got to it. I stayed with her, and she pointed to the (squatty) potty. I realized that I needed to help her use it. This was an interesting dilemma; I had just used one of these for the first time only two days ago, and now I needed to help a four-year-old use it! Yikes! I picked her up and held her over it, and that was our bonding moment!
When we walked out of the bathroom, her attitude had changed. She was still sad, but no longer mad. She sat in my lap and Perry's lap, but she still wouldn't look at us.





We took turns signing the Guardianship Agreement, which said that we would take care of her for 24 hours. At one point the tears started flowing down her face, and we all cried for her. I can't imagine how scared she must have been. She even wailed once, but just for a second when the orphanage workers left.
We went upstairs to get our family picture taken, and then it was over and we were headed back to the hotel in the van. The whole thing took less than an hour. We signed a few more papers back in the room and then headed out to lunch. She has a great appetite, isn't picky, and loves Pepsi! She was quite the ham at lunch. She likes to toast and wants everyone to clink glasses and say cheers!
We went back to the room and tried to get her to take a nap, but she kept laughing and popping up until finally we gave up and decided to go for a walk. Our hotel isn't great, but it's location is perfect. We're right next to a huge shopping market area with lots of souvenir-type stores. The girls found gifts for their teacher, each bought a fan, and we got them all Chinese dresses (I forgot what those are called!). Mollie slept for a few minutes in my arms.


We thought that we attracted a lot of attention when it was just the 4 of us, but now we are even more conspicuous and get more overt stares and pointing. Sarah and Abby are both OVER it and want me to tell everyone to stop taking pictures and touching their hair!
More to come...



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She was letting us touch her, but she wasn't ready to smile about it!





Sweet sisters.



Stickers are highly entertaining.



Group hug!


I'm not sure what was in that bag, but I need to buy a bunch before we leave. She ate the whole bag.

I have some more good ones but they aren't in my photo stream yet. Maybe tomorrow.



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Lost post

Sorry y'all. I just lost the post that I'd worked on for over an hour. I'm exhausted and now it won't even let me post pics. I'll try again tomorrow. Goodnight.



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Gotcha!!

One hour

We leave in an hour to go get Mollie. This morning we all wrote her notes to tell her what we were thinking and feeling. I'm asking the orphanage staff, and our guides, to write notes also. I think someday these will be very special to her.
We are all surprisingly calm. Sarah said she's excited and nervous, and that's how I feel too. I know I should feel more scared, since our lives will never be the same after this day, but I feel at peace.

"Then God's peace, which goes beyond anything we can imagine, will guard your thoughts and emotions through Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:7. God's Word Translation



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Tomorrow, Tomorrow!

Filled with emotions...
Asking for prayers...
We will leave the hotel at 10am, and we are scheduled to meet at 10:30. That's 8:30pm Sunday in Birmingham. Please pray:

January 30: Gotcha Day!!! (Zephaniah 3:17; Psalm 27)
•Pray for Mollie to be at total peace during this scary time
•Pray for the remaining orphans in China and throughout the world, that they may come to know the love of Christ through the love of a family
•Pray for us to have wisdom to know what Mollie needs.
•Pray for Sarah and Abby to be a blessing to Mollie and to show her the love of a family
•Pray that we will be able to nurture Mollie and help Sarah and Abby through this emotional day
•Pray for our first day and night together as a family.

And one additional request: please pray for better relations with our guide tomorrow and the rest of the week. I'm not sure what the issue was today, but Perry and I both felt like we weren't on the same page with her, and it was adding to our anxiety. We will be with her until Friday and she is supposed to be a resource and a calming presence; please pray that we are more patient with her and that she blesses our journey this week.

Zephaniah 3:17
New Living Translation (NLT)

17 For the LORD your God is living among you.
He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
With his love, he will calm all your fears.
He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”


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Squatty

I forgot to post that I used the squatty potty - I know you were all wondering about that! At the Beijing airport, there were about 20 stalls but only 2 were western toilets. I decided to give it a try, and I have to say that the Chinese people are pretty smart! I mean, really, don't we all squat in a public restroom anyway? This just eliminates the nasty sprinkle on the seat!
Ok, sorry if that was TMI for you. I'm sure my mom won't like this post. But I wanted to blog about it so I would remember it!


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Nanjing

Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Beijing anymore! After walking around Beijing today and seeing Tiananmen Square, we decided that Beijing had a very "New York" feel to it. We've only been in Nanjing a couple of hours, and it's dark, but so far we're comparing it to New Orleans. Narrow streets, lots of little neighborhood stores, pretty lights everywhere, and people walking around everywhere. Abby said, "this place feels very "Chinesey".
We're also definitely not at the Hilton anymore. Our hotel has a grand lobby, but the rooms are old and dated. We're not "roughing it," but it's not 5 star by any means! A friend in my coffee group had tried to prepare me for this, but I'd decided that it couldn't be that bad. I was wrong, but we'll be fine. The good news is that our hotel in Guangzhou is supposedly fabulous, so we'll get through this week and look forward to being spoiled again soon.
Tomorrow is low-key. We'll do a little shopping and get prepared for Mollie.


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Next Stop...MOLLIE!!!

We're packing up and getting ready to head to the airport for our flight to Nanjing. We have really enjoyed our visit here in Beijing but we're all ready to move on to the real purpose of our trip. In two days we will have our daughter"! It's funny - without fail, when we tell a Chinese person that we're here to adopt, they say "why? You already have two daughters!" I tell them that we have enough love in our family to share with another child, and God led us to this child in China.
We've only been here a few days, and we still have so many more days ahead of us. We're tired, and traveling in a foreign country is hard despite the fancy hotels. I keep thinking of the verse "Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.".

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:1-3, NIV).

Temple of Heaven and Forbidden City

We did a whole lot of walking today. Both sites were overwhelming, both because of their size and because of the massive crowds. Our guide said that there were over 50,000 people at Temple of Heaven today, and a normal (not Chinese New Year) winter day would have about 3,000. I didn't mind the crowds, except that the Chinese people don't have the same respect for personal space that Americans have. There was a special ceremony, and everyone was crowded into one area, and it was much worse than a Mardi Gras parade!


We ate lunch at a very good Chinese restaurant and finally got to practice our chopstick skills! Sarah even ate her noodles with chopsticks- impressive!


After lunch we went to the Forbidden City. That was very interesting for Perry and me, but at this point the girls were tired and cold. They were happy to get back to the hotel and swim and hang out. We even ordered room service!


Tomorrow night we fly to Nanjing. We're getting so close!


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