Getting closer

I haven't had a chance to upload pics from the orphanage. Here are some from our visit...

Joshua was not feeling well when we arrived. He was a little car sick. They were having a birthday celebration! His good friend was just adopted this past Monday!

His was the bottom bunk

squatty potty in his bathroom

His preschool room

His teacher

Fred, after picking up the kids onto his shoulders, multiple times:)

We are in the home stretch now! This morning we had our consulate appointment, which is the whole reason adoptive families have to come to Guangzhou. Everything went smoothly and we are just waiting to get his passport back with that precious visa stamped in there! We leave Guangzhou tomorrow afternoon by train for Hong Kong, where we will fly out on Friday morning. We will be back in Atlanta around 3:30 Friday afternoon!!! Can't wait to see my boys!

Not only are we getting closer coming home, but we are growing closer each day to this amazing boy. As one of the moms in our group said, "It seems like he's been with you forever."  It's starting to feel like that. He's very comfortable with us and has been in good spirits the whole trip. We've dragged him around through busy train stations, metro stations, busy streets. He's left his province to come to a much different area of China than he has ever seen, met many new people who ask him how he's doing, does like his mama and baba?, etc. 
He's also been hanging out at the executive lounge at the Marriott and has been on a nighttime river cruise and to a safari park (which is similar to the Animal Kingdom, without the rides.)

The day before, we went on a city tour. Here are some pictures from the oldest Buddhist temple in Guangzhou.

This trip is much less stressful simply because we've done it all before and know what to expect. Fred and I are much more at ease this trip, more laid back. We've felt comfortable going off on our own more, venturing out from the flock.  We took a river cruise on our own for half the price that we paid last time with our group (and it didn't include gross food that we didn't want to eat anyway.) We also we went shopping with a lady here that takes you to the places to get great deals on jade and other traditional Chinese gifts. 

 Yesterday we took the subway from our hotel to the safari park, which is a big, glorified zoo with many animals. It's very cool and reminded us of the Animal Kingdom, except no rides. (Although they DID have the drive through safari, which included everything from lions and tigers to wolves and brown bears. 

We had lots of fun despite the heat and humidity (that's what really gets ya.) And the day would have been less tiring had we not tried to exit the park at a different end than we entered. We figured it didn't matter because we had decided to take a taxi back. Once we got out of the park, we saw all the taxis lined up, but then a guy came up to us trying to find out where we were going... red flag... taxi drivers should never come up to you. The guy started saying something about "no meter" and we figured we'd be ripped off, so we decided to keep walking and try to find a legitimate taxi or just go to the subway. Well, that would have been a good plan if we had walked in the right direction and/or if there had been a subway station near the other exit, neither of those things happened. So after walking a ways, then turning around and walking some MORE (on a never-ending sidewalk along the outside of the park) we got back to our original entrance :::sigh:::  Then we had to walk even MORE to get to the subway station. For the record, once we got back to our original entrance we asked a taxi driver to take us to our hotel, but he either didn't know where it was or it was out of his range (Guangzhou is a HUGE city, 2nd largest in China). So drenching in sweat we decided to trudge on to the subway station (thank goodness we had our stroller for Joshua.) The girls were tired, but they were real troopers and we told them to keep focused on the cold Pepsi they would get at the Marriott lounge once we got back to the hotel. (That worked for Shannon... Ella, not so much, but she kept up with us.)

Looking back, I'm thinking it wouldn't have been such a bad idea to have worked out a price with one of those guys, but we really had no idea how much a taxi ride should have cost because we didn't know how far we were from our hotel.
Needless to say we made it back to our hotel, safe and sound... albeit sticky and tired. The subway is very easy to use here and they have 8 different lines that get you around the city. It's very modern and very busy!


Safari Park...

This is what I wanted to be doing

Some new things about Joshua:

He no longer puts on his shoes to go to the bathroom

He eats everything with a fork or chopsticks, even donuts and sandwiches... he must think we have terrible manners

He still sits down on the potty to pee because he's used to a squatty potty (google it). I thought since he used one of these, he would of course stand to pee, but Fred saw how he used one at the train station restroom, and it's a different technique than I thought (TMI ?)

He has taken on the roll of "little brother" like a natural and loves to tease his sisters by rapidly ringing the doorbell on their room about 17 times to get them to come

He loves his mama (and the feeling is mutual)

He calls us mama (or "ma") and baba and calls the girls as well but "Ella" is easier for him to say (It was so cute to hear him calling, "Ella!!" across the pool

He is pretty good about keeping himself busy by playing with his toys or coloring

He's figured out the iPad games with no problem

He says little phrases in Mandarin and they sound so cute (but I have no clue what he's saying)

He has a very sweet demeanor and is also bouncy and playful

He's ours and we're his.

We really are so blessed.

Our week in Changsha

Let's see how typing out a blog post on the iPad goes (Ella is watching netflix on Fred's computer)... Which brings up my first point... A big shout out to my amazing husband for setting us up with modern conveniences, like the internet and Netflix, as well as nice hotel rooms and seats on the flight... These small luxuries really make the trip as comfortable and smooth as possible and are more appreciated than you would think!

But much more important than these things, I'm thankful for his big heart. I know he thought I was a bit out of my mind when I told him about this boy that I saw in a video and felt a connection to... We had just returned home with Sam. And admittedly, it seemed kinda crazy to me too! But I'm so grateful that we took this leap and are where we are today... In this hotel room in Changsha, China with our new son taking a nap. When God is speaking to your heart, I encourage you to listen and trust. God's plan is amazing... Don't trust me, but trust Him!

So Monday was "gotcha day" and then Tuesday we went back to the same place and signed the papers to make it official. It was also Shannon's bday! 

Out to bday dinner... Everything in Hunan is spicey! We've sweated a lot on this trip!

Eating cold pizza and watching sports... So American already

Wednesday was a free day and we had decided to go to the park, but it was raining .... But we had to get out of the hotel, so we grabbed some umbrellas and walked in the drizzling rain. The park was very nice, but the rain picked up a bit and we didn't really feel like exploring it too long. So we got some mcflurries at the mcdonalds stand and then headed back to the hotel. Not too much to do here... Going to try the park again tomorrow before we leave for Guangzhou.  

Today, this morning, we went to visit the orphanage. It was about 20 minutes from our hotel. On the was there Joshua was playing on Ella's iPad and got a little car sick. He didn't throw up but he got pretty green around the gills... He wasn't feeling well when we got there. But he told the orphanage official he wanted to go up and see his friends We went in and the bottom floors of the building is a hospital. We passed several people who knew him.. I think he was pretty popular (understandable:))

The building was rather warm and the elevators were very slow. We were sweating a little bit by the time we go to the floor. We were told the orphanage has 500 kids under its care, but on his floor there were about 20 something. There are some kids in foster care and the younger one were in the building next door.  It was someone's birthday and they were all about to have cake and fruit and then noodles. It was a very nice spread! We could tell right away that he had been well taken care of. All of the nannies and the teacher (who spoke some English!) and the supervisor seem to really care for the kids. 

Joshua was still not feeling too well, but was perking up and decided he wanted some noodles:) They also put some warm water with herbs in his water bottle to help his tummy.... Whatever it was it worked and he started feeling better. We saw his room and his preschool room and the girls got to help pass out the fruit to the kids and help put what looked like mayonnaise (apparently was yogurt) and ketchup (yep) on the fresh fruit. They also passed out some bracelets they and their friends made. 

I have some pictures on camera that I'll have to upload later. Here are some...

Passing out some treats

Preschool area

We saw his friend who is getting adopted on Monday and told him his family was on an airplane at that moment flying to china! He was excited to hear that:)

I told the supervisor (she really seemed like the one in charge of all the kids and nannies) about how I saw him in a video last year. She remembered them doing that video. I asked her if I could take a video of any other kids and she said yes:) I posted their videos to an advocacy group on Facebook and I hope they are able to be adopted! 

While I was talking with our guide and the director, Fred and the kids had made their way down the hall to an open play area. By the time I got down there, Fred was drenched with sweat because he had been lifting all the kids onto his shoulders... Several times;). Ella has some video on her iPod I need to upload:)

We then went to the building next door to see where Joshua had been in preschool in the Half the Sky program. (See pics above)

We had a nice visit and we are so thankful he was in a good orphanage... But that is a relative term. As good a job as they do, you can't replace family, which is what every single one of those kids deserves. Many of the older ones will never have that. 

After the orphanage, we had our guide take us to his finding spot (where he was reportedly found at approximately 10 mos old.). It was in a residential area, in building near the stairs. Most likely his parents didn't live there, but left him somewhere he would be found. I suspect they learned of his medical need and didn't have the means to care for him financially. 

(Not really appropriate to smile for a pic like this... Habit) even felt weird taking a picture, but I figured we'd want one in the future. 

We will take the train to Guangzhou tomorrow (Friday) around 6pm.  Joshua has a required medical appointment Saturday morning and then we have our consulate appointment Tuesday. We leave there Wednesday after we get his visa to enter the U.S. 

So ready to be home!! Miss my boys... One more week, just keep swimming