Orphanage Visit

It's me, Barbara. Brian is Faith's comforter so he can hardly get away to the business center to post a message. I've really enjoyed watching him with Faith. She likes me fine and will laugh with me and let me get her dressed or take her to the bathroom, but when she is tired or distressed, she wants Brian. I think he is getting tired.

This morning we took a beautiful, one and a half hour drive through the country to the city of Fuling where the orphanage is. The countryside is amazing. The farm land is terraced or just planted on mountain slopes. I got LOTS of pictures. At the orphanage the vice directors met us (they are so friendly). They welcomed us and let us tour the first floor. There were only about 20 babies on the first floor and they were all sleeping. It was very different than the pictures I have seen. No one was in the facilities except the babies in the beds and about 4 nannies. Then, surprise of all, Fu Baoben's foster mother came to the orphanage. I was a little nervous about Faith seeing her again, because she had been with her for so long, but she seemed OK. In fact, she cried and reached back to Brian. The foster mother said she always liked her husband too, because he gave her gifts. She was very sweet and I was overwhelmed that I could tell her face to face how thankful I was for the wonderful care that Faith received in her early months. She shrugged and said it was her job, but I know she cared for her very much.

We drove back and the guide took me and BJ to a small "cafe" near the hotel to get some lunch to take back to the room. We cause such a scene when we all go out at once. Brian first catches people's attention by his height, then they crowd around to see Mckenzie. Some people touch her hair, pinch her cheeks. They sometimes pick her up and want their picture with her. Then they notice BJ is so handsome and ooh and ahh over him. Then they look in the stroller and see Faith and are confused. Everywhere we walk I have to hold on to Mckenze. At the Forbidden City there were so many people with cameras that we were treated like superstars. They even wanted their picture with me. Mckenzie got freaked-out afterawhile because 25 or more people would crowd around taking her picture, pinching her, and piking her up. One lady took her away to show to her family. I had to start getting rude after that by removing their hands from her and pushing them out of the way.

So now we prefer to go out in small groups. When BJ and I had lunch we also walked around a beautiful flower market, stalls and stalls of flowers. Brian went out later for McDonalds. Faith threw a fit when Brian wouldn't let her eat an entire milkshake! A very fierce temper on the girl. It's OK, Marshall broke us in. Her fits don't last long. Considering all the changes in her life, her happy nature out weighs her occasional fits.

Oh, and By the way, you may have known I was concerned about her ability to eat with her cleft plalate. Last night she ate a bowl of rice, a bowl of congee (chinese oatmeal), stirfry chicken, and a bowl of noodles. She loves cheerios and goldfish and just about everything. No problem.

God is so good. We are just stepping into the path He has set for us. Life is an adventure!

Barbara

Gotcha!

Well we tried a previous post but it didn't make it...our previous hotel didn't allow access to the posting site so we tried an email post, which I now see didn't make it in. It was saved as a draft so I will try to publish it after I finish this one. So now I will tell some things out of order. Also I can't get pictures in yet :-( but I will try at our next hotel in Guangzhou in a few days.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the local Office of Civil Affairs in Chongqing and met Faith! She is such a beuatiful little China doll, she looks just like her previous pictures except her hair is a bit longer now. She was standing quietly drinking a bottle, and she quickly warmed up to us. Now we have read that adoptive children often warm up to one parent first, often enough the father--which is what happened in our case. She immediately came to me (Brian) and essentially wouldn't let me leave her presence till she finally fell asleep in our hotel room about 9:00 PM! She warmed up to our kids too (especially McKenzie) and soon showed us how animated she can be. She giggles, plays, even hits when she's excited. We've seen her temper too, true enough to her age of 2 years. Some pleasant surprises: she can feed herself mostly (except she's not accustomed to western utensils yet), she is a very good nonverbal communicator, and--in some ways best of all--she's potty trained!! :-) We are having so much fun I can hardly describe it. It's also a relief to have our fees paid so we don't have to carry all that cash around... We even have Faith's Chinese passport; all the official business to do now is basically to get her paperwork from the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou next week.

This week we are going to spend time visiting Chongqing, a municipality of 8 million in the city and totalling about 30 million in the "metro area" (about20 million are farmers). This is a bright shiny city that rivals Las Vegas in its nighttime color and is probably more flashy than anywhere in New York City.

Barbara has written a long journal entry that we'll have to enter later. Right now Faith is distracted by a Baby Einstein video so that I could leave the room for a bit. Today we are going to visit the local harbor, tomorrow visit the zoo and see baby pandas, and one day we hope to visit Faith's orphanage. Friday we travel to Guangzhou, our last city before leaving China.

Our impression is that things have gone as well as they possibly could--thanks for all your prayers. We feel we can relax a bit having the main part of the trip accomplished (actually meeting Faith finally).

Next post will probably be in about 48 hours. Sorry so late for this first real post from China.

Love, Brian and the fam.

Our first day

We arrived in China at about 9:30 PM on Friday, just over 24 hours after leaving home. After a very short night of sleep we have had a busy first day in Beijing. We started by visiting a jade store, then we went to the Great Wall of China, next a large market with many kinds of Chinese crafts and ate lunch in a restaurant there; next was the Summer Palace, and finally a Chinese McDonald's and a trip back to the hotel. Tomorrow we will visit the Forbidden City, attend the international church, and then we head to Chongquing province. It has been a busy time with lots of memories already made and many more to come. Adoption time is about 36 hours away.

(Addendum: I sent this post in via email but it didn't automatically publish, so now it is appearing late.)

Welcome to Finding Faith

Welcome to our little space to share about our trip to China and our long-anticipated adoption of Faith. Please join with us in praying for our little precious one as she joins our family and home.

Our journey begins early on May 10 and we should return on May 23. We expect our first meeting with Faith to be on May 14 in China (May 13 here in the USA). We'll share our experiences with you right here as we go along.

A little about Faith... Her Chinese name is "Fu Bao Ben" which means "Treasure." We will preserve her Chinese name as her middle name. She was born about February 20, 2005. These pictures were taken at about 12 months and 18 months of age.