Gotcha Elliott!

I am sitting in the hotel room and as I type this 3 of my 4 precious children are taking a nap here in Chengdu. (Asher is at home with my sister, having a sleepover with his cousin Chloe.) This morning was amazing. It was both heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. It was heartbreaking to see the orphanage that my son has lived in for nearly two years. It is a big, bright, fun looking building with two large playgrounds in front. The walls are filled with beautiful artwork made by the children. It looks similar to a daycare in the US, just extra extra big...and very cold! Now I know why all the children are so bundled up in the pictures I have seen. It is freezing inside!

It was heartbreaking to see the faces of many children who will continue to live there. Levi and I pray that each and every one will be placed in forever families. Statistics tell us that won't happen, but our God is bigger than statistics. But our hearts just melted the moment the nanny brought our son into the room and placed him in my arms. He came to us bundled up in three very thick layers of clothes, a hat and scarf. He cried as soon as his nanny let go of him. He did not have one nanny in charge of him but several that took shifts. It was obvious that the nanny had sweet affections for him and for that I am glad. He cried a lot as I held him but was quickly calmed when the nanny gave me a yogurt covered cracker to give him. I loved having him eat it out of my hands bit by bit. Levi spent a few minutes signing papers while the girls and I admired Elliott. Elizabel and Olivia are so sweet to him! They constantly want to give him toys, touch him and talk to him. They have talked about him and prayed for him for months and are now just giddy being around him.

 After the paperwork we got a very short tour of the orphanage. Elliott's room is under renovation so were only shown a few classrooms and the hall that his room was in.

Poor Elizabel wasn't feeling very well this morning. We thought she was just tired but on the way to the orphanage she threw up. Thankfully our van had a trash can in it so it wasn't a horrible mess. She did very well during the time at the orphanage but after we left we had a 40 minute drive back to the hotel and she was very sick during it. She seems to be feeling much better now and I hope that is the end of the illness for her and that no one else gets it. Please pray that is the case.

On the way back to the hotel our guide, Elliott and I went in to a store that is somewhat like Walmart. We needed to get diapers, wipes, a stroller, formula and some food items. Elliott cried when I sat him in the cart and I was thankful that he seemed to prefer being in my arms.

In the car he fell asleep for a short time. Oh how I love holding him! And you can see how happy Olivia is to be with him.

He is just the sweetest little thing! You can't tell by the pictures due to all the layers but he is very small. The orphanage says he weighs around 20 pounds. But he seems to be healthy and doing very well. It is obvious that he is very nervous. He holds his body tensely and is hesitant to make eye contact.  He watched curiously out the car window and all around at the grocery store. He probably hasn't been outside the orphanage in nearly 1 1/2 years, since his last hospital stay. I know his whole world has changed and as he gets comfortable and learns to trust us he will relax. I pray that he will do this soon as it makes me sad to see him so scared. But I know that it is all for good. Elizabel told him when we got back to the hotel, "Brother, you aren't an orphan anymore. You are part of our family." Oh how that fills me with joy! It is so true and I am thankful Elizabel understands. One day Elliott will too.

When we got back to the hotel Levi held him and fed him a banana and cheerios which he really liked. He is just precious and I love seeing him in Levi's arms.

Today is the day!

The flight to Chengdu went just fine. Our guide's name is Emily and she seems to be good. She is sweet to the girls and seems to know what she is doing. She says she has done this for a long time so hopefully we won't have any problems as she walks us through all the steps that we will go through in Chengdu. Our guide Angela, in Beijing was just amazing so unfortunately we have high expectations :) 

Our hotel is so awesome! It has two nice sized rooms, two complete bathrooms, a fully stocked kitchenette, a living room area, office and EVEN A WASHER AND DRYER!!!! 5 people make lots of laundry so I love it! It is on the 26th floor so we have a nice view of the city. There is an indoor play area that the girls are eager to take Elliott too. That just melts my heart. We got to the hotel around 4:00 yesterday and have unpacked. There a few restaurants nearby, a small grocery. We just hung around here for the rest of the day. There is a place next door called Waffle and Bean. It is scoffed shop that sells yummy waffles and hot sandwiches. We ate there for dinner last night. It was delicious and nice to have some American food.

Today is the day we have been waiting for!We will head to the orphanage in 3 hours to get Elliott! There will be a little paperwork to do there and hopefully we will get to see his room and do a tour of the orphanage. We are just so excited and just as equally nervous. I of course had a hard time sleeping, imaging what the day will be like. But God is good. He has gotten us thus far and will carry us through the easy and the hard parts! We can't wait!

Last day in Beijing

ThWe spent another full day seeing Chengdu. We started our day at a silk factory. It was very interesting learning about the process of making silk. Our guide told us about the silk worms life cycle, how they farm the worms and use the cocoons to make silk. It is quite a long process. I now understand why good quality silk products cost so much. 

Then we rode a rickshaw through a historical neighborhood. The homes were 600 years old and are still lived in! They are crazy expensive and very small by American standards. They are built with four separate buildings formed in a square with a courtyard in the middle. In the home we toured each side building was one room. We also rode by many shops and a market.

After that we drove 1 1/2 hours north to the Great Wall. We went to an area that was restored in the 80's and is in very good shape. It was in a beautiful mountainous area. We drove by beautiful frozen streams and a frozen waterfall. The girls were very impressed since we don't see that in our part of Texas. We rode a chair lift up to the Great Wall and came down in a tabogon. It was awesome ! Levi has good pictures on his phone. I will post them soon.

For lunch we had Peking duck. I tried it but have to admit that I am not a huge fan.

We ended the day early. Picked up Pizza Hut and ate in the hotel. The girls are exhausted and I think the next 2 weeks are going to be great but tiresome so we are calling it an early night and heading to bed.

Tomorrow morning we will fly to Chendgu. We won't do much tomorrow, just get settled in to our hotel. Then Monday is gotcha day! We will get Elliott!

Here are few pics from the other day.

The pearl market

Yesterday Olivia's fell asleep during the acrobat show and Elizabel on the ride back to hotel. We had to carry them in.

View from our room

Squatty potty

Crazy long flight and super fun busy first day in Beijing

I didn't post after getting in last night because we all crashed very soon after getting to our hotel. The flight from Chicago to Beijing was supposed to take 13 hours but we got stuck on the plane for 3 hours before take off due to weather and plane issues. Each time they were about to let us off to wait in the airport they changed their minds saying the issues were almost resolved so we just waited in our seats. I was afraid that the girls wouldn't do so great with the length of the flight when Olivia asked if we were almost there after 2 1/2 of being in our seats....before we even left Chicago. But thankfully they both did amazing! We read books, colored, watched (LOTS) of movies and they both slept about 4 hours. Levi and I didn't sleep much but over all it really went well. I pray the flight home goes as well, minus the extra 3 hours.

I probably should not have let the girls sleep so much on the plane because they woke up at 2:00 am this morning and were ready to start the day. I guess they were still on Texas time.

Today was great. We are amazed at the size of Beijing...it is just huge! We are staying near the center of the city which has been very convenient. Our guide, Angela, is fabulous. She is very sweet and has made everything so easy. She picked us up at the airport yesterday and took us everywhere today. She is very kind to the girls and tells us lots of interesting facts about the city, the culture and each place we visited today. If anyone is ever in Beijing I would highly recommend her.  http://ladybugsnlove.com/ 

The hotel is beautiful and the staff very friendly. We ate breakfast at the hotel. It has many American items which the girls were thankful for and Levi and I enjoyed trying the Chinese items. It was all delicious. 

Our first stop was Temple of Heaven which was built around 600 years ago. Then we went to the Pearl Market. It is a multilevel shopping center that sells many items but on the top floor there are jewelry stores that sell beautiful pearls. You can get them at a fraction of the price of what they would be in America. 

Then we ate lunch at a delicious local restaurant, the name translates as The Big Bowl. Angela picked out several dishes that we had never tried before and we loved them all. I also liked the mum flower tea.

After lunch we visited Tian An Men square and the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven are just huge. It is amazing to see these beautiful structures that were built so long ago.

I had the girls dressed alike today and dozens of people asked if they were twins, commented on how cute they were and asked to take pictures with them. Apparently twins are considered very special in China. Olivia loved the attention and Elizabel was very sweet back to them but I think a little embarrassed. 

We ended the day by seeing an acrobat show. It was similar to a Cirque Du Soleil type of show in the type of acts and the awesome talent of the performers. It was amazing!

the day was so fun and exhausting...the girls crashed out on the way back to the hotel. 

I tried to add pictures but can't due to slow internet. I will try again at the next hotel.

Delay

Well our 13 hour flight has become 16 hours+  We have been sitting in the plane for three hours because of ice and plane issues but should leave soon!

Olivia is attempting to take a snooze whiles we wait.

A little snow in Chicago

A wonderful way to celebrate 15 years!!!

15 years ago on New Years Eve Levi and I met in Acuna, Mexico (that is a long story for another day). I was 18 and in no way thought that I was the meeting the man that God had prepared to be my husband. Don't take that the wrong way....he was as sweet and charming back then at 21 as he is today but at 18 I wasn't exactly thinking about marriage prospects. We dated for 4 years with a very important break in between. During that break we not only realized that we missed each other and that "we were meant to be" but during that time we also had very important seeds planted in our lives that eventually led us to the most important decision....placing our trust in Jesus Christ!

So 15 years ago...heck even 3 years ago I would never imanged that we would start 2014 with a trip across the world to bring home our 4th child!

We woke up crazy early this morning at 3:30 to catch our 6:30 flight to Chicago where we are now waiting to get on our 13 hour flight into  Beijing. I hope the girls do as well on that leg of the trip as they did on the two hour one!

I will attempt to post pics soon.