One week home

We have now been home a week. It’s been a good week and it’s been a busy week. Our flight from Newark landed in Greensboro as scheduled and we were greeted by friends and family. It was amazing to see so many people present to welcome us back, but the best part was being back with our boys. For the first time, our family was together. Graham was so excited to see us and Charlie has gotten SO big! We were in Greensboro for less than 12 hours before heading to Durham to catch a flight to Jacksonville. I had been nervous about Tom and I traveling with all three kids, but they did pretty well. Charlie was fussy a lot of the day, which is unusual for him. It felt so good to finally get home.

On Monday Ellie and Charlie had doctor’s appointments. Charlie was supposed to have his 12 month well check, which keeps getting rescheduled for illness, but since he has been fussy they checked him out and, low and behold, he had strep throat. That explains the fussiness. He weighed in at 22lbs 6oz. When it was Ellie’s turn on the scale she weighed in at 16lbs, 2oz.  We call him the big little brother and she’s the little big sister. Ellie’s exam went well. We have already made specialist appointments and our pediatrician was glad that we are seeking an opinion at Shriner’s. He thinks there will be more ABS resources there. Ellie received several vaccines, but did really well. She and Charlie will both go back in another week for more vaccines and hopefully and finally Charlie’s well check. On Tuesday Tom went back to work and I experienced my first day alone with all three kids. It went well! It was nice to just hang out with the kids and not really do anything else. On Wednesday we had our first adventure out of the house and took Graham to the dentist. This was Graham’s first dental appointment since moving to Florida and we really liked the dentist! He was so interested in Ellie and adoption and had several questions about the process. He even discussed Ellie’s lack of any teeth and reassured me that it’s totally normal. Our cleaning people were supposed to come while we were gone, but hadn’t by the time we got home. I prefer to not be there when they’re there (because cleaning with toddlers in the house is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos) so we made a spontaneous trip to the zoo! I was a little nervous that the zoo may be too much for Ellie, but since school has already started here, it was empty.  We spent about 2.5 hours there and had a good time. Ellie enjoyed the animals and riding around in the stroller with Charlie. Turns out the zoo was good practice, because on Thursday I had to cut nap time short to pack up all the kids and take Bennett to the vet because he had nipped and licked one of his paws raw. Tom worked from home Friday and the help was great! We spent Saturday mostly at home and took everyone to the pool in the evening for about five minutes before it closed for lightening in the area. Since Ellie has been doing so well, we decided to go to church this morning. We were in Greensboro the Sunday before we left for China, so we hadn’t worshipped with our new church family in over a month. It was so good to be back. We kept Ellie with us all morning. She enjoyed the music and was a typical restless one year old during the sermon, so Tom stood in the vestibule with her. Thankfully there is a monitor out there, so he was able to listen to most of the sermon.

This week Graham starts preschool and we will begin to settle into a routine. After several months without routine, I’m really looking forward to this. I think it will be good for Ellie to have more predictability, even though she has been pretty easy going.

Ellie is adjusting really well. This week she has been trying to crawl on all fours like Charlie, she pulls up to stand like a champ, she has learned the word “gentle” (she hears it often), and she has learned to hold her own cup. She is still learning what family is. Ninety five percent of the time she plays well with Charlie, but occasionally we see some orphanage behavior peek through where she sees him as competition. Though she is much smaller, she tries to establish dominance. He’s sensitive and his feelings are hurt easily, so it’s tough. Sometimes it’s hard to discern what is typical toddler behavior and what is orphanage behavior. We’re all still learning. Ellie has a long way to go as her heart heals and she learns what it is to be part of a family. Ellie has rejected most of what she ate in China and has been chowing down! We can already tell her face looks a little more full and her skin is brighter! She has been sleeping well at night, which has been very nice with the jet lag.

Please pray for Ellie as she continues to adjust. Pray for Graham as he starts school this week. He has done surprisingly well with everything, which is such an answer to prayer. Pray for Charlie as he tries to figure out his sister. Also, please pray for Tom and I.  The jet lag has been unreal and it has definitely been a big change going from two to three kids. God has taken good care of us and it is so good to have all my babies home!

This sums up the past week!

At the zoo

Toy plates were the toy to have this week.

Learning to hold her cup up!

Ellie is an American! Now if we can just get to her brothers...

The first part of our journey home was good, the second part...not so much. 

Thursday we met our guide and received Ellie's immigration visa, her Hague adoption certificate, and the very important brown envelope for immigration. Our guide arranged a van to take us to Hong Kong, so we left Guangzhou at noon and arrived in Hong Kong a little before 3pm. The drive was really nice. In China we saw a lot of industrial cities and Hong Kong was beautiful, like a tropical mountain area. The hotel was connected to the airport, so that was convenient. For dinner we walked over to the airport and it's this whole big mall situation. We walked around for a while and ate dinner there before walking back to the hotel. The next morning we boarded our flight for Newark. Ellie did pretty well on the flight, only crying a few times and sleeping for about 5 hours total of the almost 16 hours. Tom and I didn't sleep. When we arrived in Newark we were relieved, tired, and excited to get through immigration and on to Greensboro to see our boys. Immigration went much more quickly than expected. The officer told us we would receive her green card in the mail. I corrected him that she should receive a Certificate of Citizenship. His response was "Yeah, Yeah, that's right". So I guess we'll see what happens! The guy at the consulate in China already prepared us that the customs officers aren't as familiar with processing citizenship, so he told us it could happen that they say "green card". He said usually the right thing comes to your home, but he did tell us what to do if it doesn't. 

Our layover was almost four hours, so we settled in the waiting area. Flight after flight kept getting cancelled due to "air traffic control". When our flight was supposed to begin boarding we learned that it had been cancelled. We were devastated. Tom stood in the customer service line for over an hour before learning we couldn't get a flight until the next evening. He had them check Raleigh, Charlotte, Roanoke, Charlottesville, Columbia, and Charleston. Nothing. United gave us a few meal vouchers and sent us to a sketchy hotel. We thought about finding another hotel, but at that point we had been awake for 27 hours and just wanted to sleep. We didn't see any bedbugs and the sheets at least looked clean, even if the room wasn't, so we all took an appropriate dose of melatonin and crashed. Surprisingly, we all slept decently. My mom was able to talk to United for us, who said the flight to Greensboro today wasn't looking good. Somehow she convinced them to buy us American Airlines tickets for today. So that's the plan. We left the hotel early even though our flight isn't until 3:30 because it would be better to wait around the airport than the hotel. We missed our Delta flight to Jacksonville from Greensboro today, but the travel agent was able to work something out. We will leave from Raleigh tomorrow morning. 

When I called Graham to tell him about our flight last night I knew he wouldn't understand a flight being cancelled, so I told him the airplane was broken and we couldn't get on it. He said "Oh no Mommy. They fix it". Poor boy. First thing he asked me this morning was if the airplane was fixed today. We haven't made any promises. 

Somehow, our checked baggage did make it to Greensboro this morning. The benefit of that is that since my parents live five minutes from the airport they went and picked it up and my mom is washing all our clothes. Thanks mom! 

So now we wait and pray we can at least make it to North Carolina today. So far it looks like our flight will happen. 

Waiting and Touring

Our time in Guangzhou has been all about doing something, then waiting. On Monday Ellie’s medical appointment was being documented for immigration, so we waited. While we waited, we did the tourist thing. We went to Shamian Island on Monday morning, which was settled by Europeans in the 1800’s as part of the trading industry. It is very strange to visit because it very closely resembles Historic Charleston, SC, with a little bit of a Chinese twist. The US consulate used to be located here, so it was very popular for adoptive families from the US to stay here. Since the consulate was moved downtown, it’s not as much the case. This is a high tourist area, so we did some shopping and bought Ellie some Chinese silk dresses for now, and when she is older. Since this area is well-known to tourists, there is a western restaurant called Lucy’s that we ate lunch at. It is decorated with movie posters, mostly from the 80’s and 90’s as far as I could tell. They served Chinese food and American food. I enjoyed a cheeseburger! After lunch we came back to the hotel. After Ellie’s nap we went across the street to walk around the mall across the street from the hotel. Tom and I used to go walk around Hanes Mall as newlyweds. We didn’t buy anything usually, it was just something to do, so we are pretty used to window shopping. The window shopping at this mall was much more extravagant than we are used to. Stores included Armani, Saint Laurent, Cartier, Tesla, Alexander McQueen, and others. It was fun to look at the high end designs. Tom enjoyed sitting in the Tesla, his dream car. I enjoyed looking at the Lladro art. 

On Tuesday the medical documents were ready, so we, and several other families, attended our consulate appointments at the US consulate. As I have said before, all adoptive families from the US must visit this particular consulate. What is new that I learned is that anyone wishing to immigrate from China to the US must go through this consulate. Even if they live right next to the US embassy in Beijing, they still have to make the trip to Guangzhou to obtain the immigrant visa. We were not allowed to take cell phones into the consulate, so we took a family picture just outside. It was really nice to see American flags around. It’s one of those things you don’t realize you miss seeing until you see it. There were about 14 families in a DMV type lobby with two rows of chairs and a small play area for the kids. It was nice, but very noisy! The employees sit behind bank teller type windows and use a terrible PA system to speak to you. The noise from the lobby makes it even more difficult to hear. They had one representative from each family come up and together we were all given the very general information. We were told what the process will look like when we go through Immigration at the Port of Entry in the US. We were told what documents we would be given and to NOT LOSE THEM. We were told a bit about the process we would need to complete once home, such as obtaining a social security card for our child. They let us know some other things as well, like about the implications of trying to use our child’s Chinese passport for travel after they are a US citizen. They again told us not to lose the documents we would be given before leaving China. Tomorrow we will receive a sealed brown envelope. We were told that if the envelope is tampered with, Ellie could be refused entry into the US. Since these documents can not be mailed, our only option would be to turn around, fly back to Guangzhou, and have them reissued. Apparently this has never happened to an adoptive family, but it has happened to other people trying to immigrate. We will definitely protect the brown envelope. After we were given the general information, we all took an oath together. This is not the citizenship oath, this was to affirm that everything we have submitted already for our child’s visa and everything we will tell them during the interview is true to the best of our knowledge. After this, each family was called to the bank teller like window individually. We were asked if we felt the medical condition portrayed in Ellie’s file was accurate compared to what we saw when we met her. We were asked if she had ever been to the US. We were asked a few other quick questions, and that was it. We left her Chinese passport and a few other documents. Tomorrow morning our guide will pick them up and deliver them to us at the hotel. The next step in this process is for Ellie to land on US soil, go through Immigration in Newark, and she will officially be a US citizen! I passed through the Newark airport a few times in college going to and from India and Nepal. This is where I saw the skyline of New York City for the first time. I never imagined it would be the place my Chinese daughter would become an American. 

On Tuesday afternoon Ellie napped, Tom went for a run, and then we got ready to go on a dinner cruise on the Pearl River. The Pearl River is the 3rd longest river in China. It is not named this because it has pearls, though this area is known for its pearls. It is named the Pearl River because of it’s role as the “silk road on water” during the time of high trade by water in this area. I have mentioned the vast number of people in the cities in China, so, as you might imagine, in order to house all these people, there are a lot of really tall buildings. Many of these are lit up at night, almost Times Square style. The buildings and bridges along the river are no exception, so they make for an excellent view from the water at night. The dinner was alright. It wasn’t the best Chinese food we have had, but it was ok. The view was great. There was also a juggling show and Ellie got to participate! The juggler spun a basketball on her little finger. She didn’t know what to think about it. 

Wednesday was another day of waiting, this time for Ellie’s immigrant visa, so we did the tourist thing again. We went with a few other families to check out the Safari Park. This is a larger theme park just outside of Guangzhou. It’s hard to describe, maybe similar to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, though not quite to that level. The Safari Park’s claim to fame is that triplet pandas were born there three years ago and are doing well. It seemed a large part of the park was centered around this. There was a “safari” where we took a tram through a savannah type area. It was sort of like the Kilimanjaro Safari ride at Disney, except also very different at the same time. In addition to the trams driving through, there were also personal cars. Some of the animals could pretty much wander right up to the cars. We saw hippos, giraffes, lions, white tigers, deer, brown bears, black bears, elephants and more. After the safari we were able to walk to see several other exhibits, including the koalas, pandas, white tigers, snakes, and others. For lunch we had burgers shaped like pigs. The eyes and nostrils were made out of chocolate syrup, which didn’t taste too bad on a burger. When we walked up to the baboon area two employees were starting to feed the baboons. There were no patrons around, so she gave me a handful of the peanuts she was feeding them and showed me how to toss them to the baboons. They were able to catch them in their mouths. It was fun! The employee also showed us which one was the baboon king. The park just opened a gondola system that stretches the length of the park. We had a little extra time so we rode this to the far end of the park and back. It was fun to look down and see the animals from another perspective. It was also breezy, which was nice because it was SO hot. We got back to the hotel around 4:30, so we rested and then went to our favorite local spot one last time for dinner. We have probably eaten at this restaurant, and ordered the same thing (braised noodles with pork ribs), about four or five times. One of the draws of this place is they will give Ellie a steamed egg for free. Finding food in a restaurant to feed a toddler can be challenging, add the language barrier and it’s nearly impossible. We learned where to point on the menu for the free egg, so half the appeal of this place is the ease of ordering. That and it’s a short walk from the hotel. 

Tomorrow we will meet our guide to get Ellie’s visa and board a van which will take us to Hong Kong. It is prohibitively expensive (and less reliable) to fly out of Guangzhou. So even with paying for the three hour van ride and a hotel in Hong Kong for the night, we still save money by adding this leg to our trip. We have been counting down “sleeps” with Graham. Only two more sleeps (for him) until we see our boys! 

Ellie has been doing much better with attachment with me. She really turned the corner yesterday. As long as she isn’t too tired/grumpy, she will let me hold her even if Tom is around, she woke up from her nap early and let me rock her and put her back to sleep, she has played with me more, and she even let me feed her a bottle! She still prefers him over me, but we are definitely making really good progress and I am so thankful! Thank you for your prayers! Please pray for safe travels tomorrow to Honk Kong as we get closer and closer to FINALLY bringing Ellie home!

At the US Consulate! 

The Weekend in Guangzhou

On Friday afternoon we left Kunming and flew to Guangzhou. This is where the US consulate is that issues immigrant visas for adoptions, so all adoptive families must travel through Guangzhou. There are many other adoptive families here, which is nice. Many of them we have met or connected with on facebook before we traveled. It is nice to have English conversations with people going through similar experiences. The weather in Guangzhou is not like Kunming at all. It is very hot and humid, much like Florida. The weather hasn’t been so bad for Tom and I because we are used to this climate. The city is very big with over 14 million people. The state of North Carolina only has just over 10 million in the entire state. The area surrounding our hotel is very lit up at night and beautiful. 

Ellie did pretty well during her first flight. She fussed some for take off and landing, but overall did fine. The flight was less than two hours and a short practice for our big 15.5 hour flight coming up in a few days. Regardless of how that flight goes, it will be totally worth it because Ellie’s US citizenship and our boys will waiting at the end of that journey. 

On Saturday we woke up and very quickly enjoyed the breakfast buffet at our hotel. We have called it Breakfast Wonderland. There is pretty much anything you can imagine for breakfast available, and since it is a very internationally accommodating hotel, there are a few things you probably wouldn’t imagine, like fried chicken and soup. We took Ellie to her immigration medical appointment. The point of this is mostly to check that her physical exam matches what is listed in her file and that she does not appear to have communicable disease. A doctor read over her file, performed a medical exam, and then she saw an ENT who examined her eyes, ears, nose, and throat. They then obtained her height and weight. Fully clothed and with shoes on she was 16.5lbs. We were able to skip some of the other stations, so I’m not sure what they did in those. She is under two years old, so we did not have to have a tuberculosis test done or any vaccinations. We have an affidavit stating we will address her immunizations when we get home. We have her immunization card from the orphanage and will get help translating that. Her pediatrician will determine if it will be better to repeat certain vaccines or draw titers to determine her immunity. 

After the medical exam we returned to the hotel and had lunch with another adoptive family. For the first time since Ellie has been with us, we were able to accommodate a real nap. She slept pretty late though and we ended up having to wake her up at 4:30 to have dinner with another adoptive family. Because Ellie slept so late yesterday she was not at all interested in going to bed last night. We finally all fell asleep around 10:30, but she was up some with what appeared to be night terrors throughout the night. Night terrors are common for newly adopted children, a result of the big changes they have experienced. 

Today we went to a park in Guangzhou and saw a famous statue of five goats. There is an associated legend with the statue and how the early people of Guangzhou were saved from starvation. The park was not as nice as the one in Kunming, but it did have some similarities. There were groups of retired people playing hacky sack all around. Our guide told us that in China, women retire at 50 years old and men retire at 55, unless they are some type of engineer, then it is 5 years later for them. She said some of the retired people care for their grandchildren during the day, but many just spend time in the park recreating. From the park we went to the pearl market. This place is like a full size mall, except completely full of jewelry. It was fun to look at! Guangzhou is known for it’s pearl industry, so we bought a necklace for Ellie when she is much older and bracelet for her to wear now. After an easy lunch in our hotel room we put Ellie down for a nap, but we definitely didn’t let her sleep as long today! After nap we checked out the pool for Ellie’s first pool experience! She loved it! We attempted McDonald’s for dinner, but accidentally ordered a box of varying types of spicy chicken. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. We made it up to ourselves with some ice cream from the 7-11 :-)  

Bonding is going about the same or maybe slightly better. Ellie is content being held by Tom. She will still occasionally allow me to hold her very briefly, if I can distract her. She likes to look at jewelry in shop windows, so we have done some of that. She prefers Tom to push her stroller, but will occasionally be ok if I do it. She smiles at me more and is allowing me to feed her a little more while Tom holds her, as long as she isn’t too tired. Our guide in Kunming thinks I remind her of her nannies which upsets her and our guide in Guangzhou suggested it may be because Tom has black hair and I don’t. It could be these or any other reason. It has been hard wanting to hold her and play with her, but she’s just not ready. She mostly cries when I hold her, which is tough, especially when I’m missing snuggles with Graham and Charlie at the same time. For now we are just moving at her pace. This behavior is incredibly common for adopted toddlers and the time frame for adjustment varies. It’s hard to not take it personally, but I have to keep reminding myself that she is experiencing a HUGE life change and doesn’t understand any of it. If clinging to Tom makes her feel safe right now, then that’s what she needs. She slept in our bed last night because of the night terrors and Tom said she was snuggled up to me in her sleep for a really long time. She also let me snuggle with her before she was fully awake from her nap. We decided she subconsciously likes me. She does prefer me to strangers, so we’re making progress. 

Graham and Charlie flew up to Greensboro with my parents on Saturday. They will stay there until we get back. The change of scenery may be good for them. It seems they are doing well with us being away. Graham asks for us frequently, but understands where we are. They will get to see more family this week, so that will be a good distraction. 

Please continue to pray for Graham and Charlie. Ellie is feeling much better, but will need continued prayers as she deals with all the changes going on. Please continue to pray for my relationship with her and that she will continue to make positive progress in attachment. Continue to pray for Tom as he continues to provide the bulk of Ellie’s hands-on care. 

Meigui

Little did we know, our daughter is a local celebrity. We visited the orphanage yesterday and everyone knew her. Every room we walked into, people would exclaim “Meigui!”. We were even just walking down the street this evening about 30 minutes away from the orphanage and someone we passed on the street (remember there are over 6 million people in this city), said “Meigui!” and knew who she was! She is called Meigui so much so that Tom and I are considering having her legal name changed from Elizabeth Jane YeXin Harris to Elizabeth Jane Meigui Harris when we get home. We’ll see. 

Starting Tuesday night Ellie spiked a fever and was clearly not feeling well. On Wednesday morning she vomited twice, as well as had a fever. She also wasn’t drinking any fluids. We spoke with our guide and she arranged for us to take her to the doctor at the orphanage. When we arrived at the orphanage we were surprised to find an almost garden like atmosphere. It was beautiful and peaceful. Our guide told us that about 700 children live there. 500 of them live in the surrounding foster village with foster families and about 200, mostly the very young, live in the orphanage. About 90% of the children have some type of mental or physical special need. We met with the lady who had brought Ellie to the civil affairs office and she took us to see the doctor. They took Ellie’s temperature and we told her the symptoms. She looked at her throat and said she had an infection. She prescribed two medications and instructed us to give Tylenol for a fever. The lady from the orphanage went to the pharmacy in the hospital and got the two prescriptions. The packages were totally in Mandarin. Thankfully our guide translated the instructions. We later googled the medications and they’re apparently some type of root based cold remedy. The orphanage also gave us one of their bottles to try. When we opened the bottle it was obvious why she wasn’t taking fluids for us. The hole on the nipple of the orphanage bottle is gigantic. It’s the size of a small pen. She has been taking fluids much better since. I say fluids. It’s more of a soup. 3 scoops of formula and 3 scoops of rice cereal to 6 ounces of water is pretty thick. 

After seeing the doctor we went to see the play room. Everyone was excited to see Ellie. It was neat to see the little friends she played with, but also sad to know these children are waiting on families. The truth of the matter is, some may never have a family. We went from the playroom to Ellie’s “class” room. We met her nannies, volunteers, and friends. We met a little boy, apparently her “boyfriend” whose family is going to travel to meet him soon. The nannies asked us to try to find his family so we could keep the kids in touch. Thank goodness for facebook! We have already found his family! We could tell during the visit that Ellie’s nanny truly loves her. She shared some of Ellie’s newborn pictures with us and they gave us back the USB drive we sent for them to put pictures on. We’ll see what we find there when we get home. Ellie’s nanny fed her lunch and while she was eating she reached out for me! Ellie has been clinging to Tom like Velcro and more or less rejecting me. This behavior is very typical for toddlers as they go through the trauma of leaving the orphanage, but it’s hard on everyone. We still have a lot of ground to cover with attachment, but this was a big step. She also reached for Tom when the nanny was holding her. This made her nanny tear up. I can’t imagine the heartbreak. It has to be bittersweet to prepare a child you have raised to meet her family, but then have to watch as she chooses them over you. We were given the contact information for the orphanage, including the orphanage email address so we can send pictures, and we definitely will. We were told that there was a volunteer who especially loved Ellie and we were given two bags of clothes and toys that she had bought for her. We spent a good amount of time in Ellie’s class with the people who know her best. Even though there is a language barrier, we were able to laugh and smile together over this special little girl. We were also given the opportunity to see Ellie’s bed. She got to sit in it one last time. We were invited to eat lunch with the orphanage staff and we did. The food was really good and everyone was very welcoming. No matter the quality of an orphanage, it is still not a family, however, if Ellie could not be in a family her first year, we are thankful she was at the orphanage in Kunming. It is a very, very special place. After lunch we left from there and did some more exploring of Ellie’s past, the details of which we will share with her when she is older. We are thankful, though, that we were able to find more information in some areas than we thought we might. 

Today was purely a sight seeing day. We went to a Tea Center and were taught all about Pu’er tea and other types of tea. We learned how to do the tea ceremony and got to taste different teas, one of which was from a 500 year old tea and had aged 19 years. Apparently Pu’er tea is similar to wine in that it ages and gains taste and monetary value as it gets older. The woman who hosted us has a Bachelor’s degree in agriculture and a Master’s degree in Tea. Who knew it was such a thing?

After the tea ceremony we went to the Di’an Lake area, huge tourist spot, and went to a Minorities Village. The best way to describe this I think would be sort of like EPCOT at Disney World, except instead of different countries, it was different minority groups, mostly mountain dwelling people, from the Yunnan province. In each area they had an example house, people dressed in traditional clothing from that group, people cooking foods, etc. It was really neat! We ate lunch once we got back to town and made it back to the hotel in the early afternoon. Since Ellie had napped in the van and at the minority village, she wasn’t up for napping. I haven’t tried to push too much on trying to get her to accept me, but Tom was exhausted, so I put her in the Tula carrier and we went for a walk. We went to Starbucks and for the first time since we’ve been here, I was actually able to to communicate to the barista that I just wanted a black coffee. It was glorious. Ellie and I then went and walked around Green Lake Park. She fussed off and on until we got to the park, and then there was just too much to look at to fuss. We watched paddle boats, saw the koi ponds, saw a wedding photo session, and then hung out to watch people dancing in the park. 

Tomorrow we will leave Kunming and fly to Guangzhou. This is where the US consulate is that issues immigrant visas for adoptions. We will be sad to leave this beautiful city, especially since Guangzhou is notoriously hot and humid, but it will be nice to be able to connect with other adoptive families and possibly not be quite the spectacle that we are here in Kunming. 

Please continue to pray for Ellie. She seems to be feeling much better. Pray for Graham and Charlie. They are missing us and we are missing them. Pray for Tom as he has the physically exhausting task of Ellie only wanting him to do anything for her. Pray that she will continue to open up to me, and little pieces and moments when I can get them. Thank you for your continued prayers for our family. It really means a lot to us. 

Ellie and the woman who has loved her so well

Ellie is a Harris!

When we arrived at the airport in Kunming our guide let us know we would be meeting Ellie at the Civil Affairs office at 3pm the next day. We rested, found our way to Pizza Hut, and walked through Ellie’s beautiful city. Kunming is way up in the mountains. I forget what Tom said the elevation was, but it’s higher than Denver. The weather is cool in the mornings and evenings and in the 70’s during the day. Basically, perfect. 

Things we have learned about Kunming so far: Where China and Burma share a border is where jade is mined. From that area the jade is taken to Kunming, giving the city first pick of the jade, as well as making the prices lower. Kunming is also known for its flower industry. The writer of the Chinese National Anthem is from Yunnan, the province the city of Kunming is in. People in Kunming speak Mandarin, but with a different dialect. It’s slower and easier to pronounce, which is great for us. There are several minority groups that come from far out regions to vacation in Kunming. Their traditional attire is so incredible to see. There was an important American air base here during WW II that still served as the local airport until just a few years ago. There are more than 6.6 million people here. Raleigh has less than half a million, if that gives you any perspective. There are a lot of people here. Kunming is the City of Eternal Spring, and it’s easy to tell why. 

On Monday morning we were nervous to meet Ellie. Our guide took us to Green Lake Park, a park built in the 17th century, to walk around and relax. It was a bustling place, but calm at the same time. Groups of people dancing and exercising, doing tai chi, Kung fu, chatting, there was a group meeting to discuss plans for the park, little shops, people just sitting and watching the flowers and people, and children playing. It’s a great place and reminded me of Central Park in New York. We have since been back in the afternoon when it was busier and lots of impromptu karaoke was going on. Both times it was beautiful. 

After the park we had lunch and came back to the hotel to rest. We got everything together that our guide said we needed and met her in a the lobby at 2:30. Our driver was stuck in traffic and couldn’t make it. Thankfully, our guide was able to get a taxi for us. We arrived at the Civil Affairs office, a small apartment in a nondescript apartment complex, and when we walked in, exactly at 3pm, Ellie was there waiting for us. She was dressed in a sweet little white dress with purple flowers and was playing with a toy car. She looked at us curiously, but didn’t cry. I sat next to her on the couch and played with her for a while before picking her up to put her in my lap. She seemed ok with that. Our guide and the orphanage official were talking in Mandarin about how much the nannies loved Ellie and she recognized who they were talking about and started crying. She is so smart. At the orphanage she was called Mei Gui (May Gway), which means beautiful rose. She cried a little at times during the appointment, but seemed ok that I walk around with her. The representative from the orphanage was able to make her laugh. It’s clear that she was cared for. We received a copy of her daily schedule and also were able to get a few questions about her care answered. From there our driver (who had made it to the office by then) drove us to Wal-mart. Wal-mart in Kunming is about ten times crazier than Wal-mart at home, but fun at the same time. Of note, Tom and I went to Wal-mart on our wedding day. We were heading to Charlotte to spend the night before leaving for our cruise and had forgotten to pack a couple things, so ran into a Wal-mart on the way. Maybe that’s just how we do things. Get married, go to Wal-mart, meet our child, go to Wal-mart. On the way there Ellie seemed exhausted, maybe from the changes, maybe because her nap was probably cut short that day. Either way, she fell asleep on my chest in the car and snuggled in. It was amazing to finally, after 18 months of this process, to have her in my arms. We bought a few things we needed for her at the Wal-mart and then walked back to the hotel. Ellie likes to watch all the people when we are out. I imagine her world has been pretty small, so there is so much interesting and new to see. 

We didn’t see any more tears after the Civil Affairs office on Monday. She was more interested in just taking everything in. On Tuesday morning we ate breakfast and took her back to the Civil Affairs office to complete the adoption. They asked if we wanted to adopt Ellie. We said yes, of course. We filled out a bunch of paperwork and signed a whole lot of documents. We placed our red thumb prints on our signatures and Ellie placed her red footprint. It was official. Cheng Ye Xin was an orphan no more! Elizabeth Jane YeXin Harris is a daughter, sister, granddaughter, and niece! From that office we went to get her passport picture taken and apply for her passport. The process was similar to going to the DMV, just much more crowded. Ellie fell asleep in the car, so she didn’t get a very good afternoon nap. She was a bit fussy, so we ended up giving up on nap time and went for a walk at Green Lake Park. It is common with newly adopted children for them to cling to one particular parent. Ellie clings to Tom. On Tuesday morning she would cry if he was out of her sight, but has been doing a little better. She still prefers him to hold her, but also doesn’t mind me holding her, or carrying her in the Tula carrier. At bedtime last night I think it really clicked for her what was happening. She grieved hard. She allowed me to comfort her and would fall asleep in my lap, and then wake up crying again. I am thankful she feels comfortable enough with us to grieve and allow us to comfort her. It is heartbreaking to see though. She has lost everything and everyone she knows. I can’t imagine. She has been so incredibly brave. 

Ellie has been eating well, but not drinking very well for us. The orphanage is going to prepare a bottle for us to take tomorrow. Maybe she just doesn’t like the ones we brought or the ones we bought at Wal-mart to try. I hope the new bottle from the orphanage does the trick. Yesterday she only took about 5-6oz of fluid total, with maybe 2oz of that being formula. She eats congee (rice porridge) really well, and that has a lot of liquid, so hopefully she is staying hydrated ok. She has a bit of a cold, which doesn’t seem to be bothering her too much. She sweats a lot when she sleeps. Not sure if that is from the cold or just her. We’re still learning about her for sure. She likes to mimic facial expressions. She has a very sweet laugh. She clearly has not had a tub bath before as she tries to lean over and face plant in it. She sleeps well once she falls asleep. She will eat pretty much anything, though she wasn’t too sure about watermelon (not my fave either). She tries to stand. She can army crawl. She likes to throw toys when she’s done with them. We’re excited to continue to learn about her. After all the documents were signed yesterday, we were given a precious memory book with pictures of Ellie from very early on. It is like a little journal and documents some of her milestones. It is in Mandarin, but we will have it translated once home. Some children adopted from orphanages receive nothing. No pictures or documentation of their past. We are so thankful for this little book. 

Today we will visit her orphanage. I’m sure it will be a tough visit for Ellie to see so many familiar things and then leave again, but it’s important for her to say goodbye to those who have cared for her so well. It’s important for us to the see the place where she spent her first year so we can tell her about it when she’s older. It might be a tough visit, but it’s important. 

Thank you for your continued prayers. Pray for Tom and I as we handle learning to parent Ellie along with lingering jet lag. Pray for Ellie as she continues to grieve and learns to trust us. Pray for Charlie as he continues to still be sick, but getting better. Pray for Graham as he is missing us (and us him!). He definitely understands what is going on, but wants to come to China too. We keep telling him there are no Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches in China. We can’t wait to all be home together! 

We're in China!

We have made it! We are finally on the same side of the planet as Ellie! It has been a whirlwind so far, so I apologize for just now updating on our travels. We left our house at about 4:20am Thursday morning, flew from Jacksonville to Chicago, and then flew 13.5 hours to Beijing. The flight to Beijing wasn't terrible, but it was long. We arrived in Beijing at 3:15pm on Friday China time, which was about 23 hours elapsed time of travel for us. A guide picked us up at the airport and took us to our hotel. The weather in Beijing is warm/hot, but about the same or as Florida. Tom and I went to the room to unload our things and then found a Chinese restaurant in the hotel. We had Kung pao chicken, sweet and sour shrimp, and dumplings. It was very delicious. After dinner we were able to FaceTime with the boys for a few minutes and then we finally fell asleep around 8pm local time. I was wide awake the next morning at 3:30am due to the time adjustment. We had to be up incredibly early Saturday to catch our flight to Kunming, so I wasn't terribly concerned with trying to sleep longer and adjust quite yet. We decided instead to go ahead and get ready for the day. Our hotel is about a mile from Tiananmen Square, so we took a nice morning walk there. It was early, so the weather was nice. On the way there we walked down a back street, which was fairly quiet and scenic. We walked past the French Embassy, which was impressive. We got to the entrance to the square area and decided we didn't have enough time to go through security and actually enter the square, so we just saw it from across the road. We then walked back on a more busy main road. When we got back to the hotel we ate breakfast. The breakfast buffet had western and Chinese foods. We then met our guide with another adoptive family and started the trip to the Great Wall. 

Jacksonville, FL is the largest city by land mass in the continental US. It has nothing on Beijing! 2 hours into our van ride to the Great Wall, we were still in Beijing! We were able to see some of the country side, which was beautiful. We took a ski lift up the mountain to the wall. It was very scenic and pretty scary! Tom and I walked a fair ways on the wall. It has steps and walkways, but parts are very steep. The view is beautiful and of course the wall extends further than we could see. Our guide gave us some history of the wall while on the way there. It was built under three dynasties, each one making it longer and/or taller. She said it was 6,000km or about 3,700 miles! Not all parts of the wall are still maintained by the government and are climb at your own risk. The section we were at though, Mutianyu section, is very well maintained though. Every couple hundred feet or so there was a watchtower, and some of the watchtowers had steps to go on top of it. One of them had a very small cannon. After spending a while on the wall we took a toboggan sled down the mountain. That was very fun! We left the Great Wall and traveled back to the center of Beijing to an acrobat show. The show was similar to what you see acrobats do at the circus in the US. It was pretty impressive. Our guide then took us to a small restaurant famous for Peking noodles. From there we went back to the hotel. 

We woke up at 3:30 this morning to get ready to head to Kunming. Ellie lives in Kunming. The Beijing airport is massive and I'm glad our guide had us get there early. The bus ride from the terminal to the plane was almost a half hour. A meal was served on the plane. I'm not sure what it was...but it was pretty decent. We recognized vanilla yogurt, rolls, and a muffin. We added some type of pickled vegetables to some type of porridge. Tom liked it, but the pickled vegetables weren't really my thing. The porridge was pretty good though. We were the only non-Chinese folks on the plane, so we just watched what everyone else was doing, which is how we knew to add the vegetables to the porridge. The flight from Beijing to Kunming was about three hours. 

We arrived and Kunming and it was very literally a breath of fresh air. It's much cooler here with a nice breeze and much less pollution than Beijing. Our guide, Susan, met us at the airport and we drove almost an hour to the hotel where she checked us in and took us to get lunch. Susan has met Ellie a few times and says she is so beautiful, always smiling and laughing, has such a good temperament, is very smart, and her nannies are very proud of her and proud that she is being adopted. The honor is ours. 

Right now we are a little less than three miles from Ellie. It's a bit surreal after all this time and being so far apart to finally be here. We will meet Ellie at 3pm tomorrow afternoon (3am EST). We are nervous and excited!!

Please pray for all three of us, for calm spirits and especially for Ellie. 

The boys seems to be doing well at home, though we miss them a lot. Charlie has been sick since before we left, but after another doctor's visit Saturday morning, it sounds like there is a good plan to get him feeling better soon. Please continue to pray for them as well. Next update: Ellie is ours!

Right after we landed in China

Dumplings

At The Great Wall

Acrobat show 

Kunming 

Kunming

Ellie's bed is ready!