Guangzhou!

We made it to Guangzhou! Josie did a great job on the flight. She is signing more, drink, and eat. She is smiling and laughing bunches. She loves to have Mommy imitate faces and she's learned how to give kisses. She is delightful! The pictures are of her hometown in Nanjing, of our group of families all adopting special needs kids, of the three kids from Nanjing's orphanage, and some of our cutie!

Internet access will be extremely limited; we will not be able to post every day. Janice/Shana, our room # is 1131 at the White Swan. Our phone card is done so we hope you will be able to get ahold of us over the phone. If we don't hear from you this evening, we'll get another phone card.

Things are going well. This is a tourist area: lots of English, lots of American food. It seems more like a vacation here.

China 5/11

Today we opted out of the trip to the park and hung out at the hotel as well as the vendors. We needed to sleep in a bit! So I thought I'd post some of the cultural differences and amusements today.

* (Kids may want to skip this paragraph.) It is unusual to NOT be stared at and pointed at here. If we pause, we are sure to gather a crowd. Our agency has supplied us with neck ribbons attached to a card explaining why we are hereas well as why we have a Chinese girl with us in case it gets sticky. We've used it more than once. Disabled people fare worse. Our group has a little guy with an unrepaired cleft palate and an adopting parent who is overweight. These two get pointed to, laughed at, and imitated. Every once in a while there is a diabled person begging and the Chinese people rush to cross the street to avoid contact. One person was told about their cleft-affected child, "we throw them away." A guide told us, "We know there are orphans and their life is hard, but we don't care." They do not understand us "Crazy Americans" and tell us so.

*We so far have not plunged our toothbrushes under the tap water; yeah! If we did, we'd have to throw away the toothbrush. The tap water is unsafe for "foreigners" as well as locals. We also are remembering to throw the toilet paper into the waste basket as we cannot flush it. The sewer system could not handle that. And we have avoided ice. The locals here do not have anything cold. Ice and cold drinks are new.

*There is no personal space. This is most noticable in driving. Just nose in (no matter if it is not your lane or if you are crossing five lanes) and if you are bigger or arrive a fraction of a second earlier, it's all yours. Crosswalks are a bit like the old game, "frogger."

*There is a very repulsive smell coming from the sewer grates. No surprise there. But it also comes from every restaurant and food vendor. Thankfully, you do get accustomed to it while you are sitting in the restaurant or you would most likely not be able to eat. Unless, of course you are more adventuresome, like Chris. Tonight he enjoyed eel as well as the duck (served whole) and other treats as we went out with our guide.

*The mattresses in Beijing were very hard. The mattresses in Nanjing are surprisingly more hard. We hear the hardest is yet to come in Guanghzou!

*The laws passed against spitting in public in Beijing (for the Olympics) are not being followed. But laws, we are told, are suggestions anyway.

*If you need to use the squatty potty, you will find a way. And there are usually sinks to wash your hands. But no soap. We went to a supermarket and I followed a cashier through the system who'd just run Chris' card. A quick rinse, no soap, and back to the groceries!

*We saw a group of Goth Chinese today. They received even more attention than we do and also got lots of dirty looks. If Goth is rejecting the culture, I can see that this would be even more of an insult to the Chinese.

*There is lots of what we've heard referred to as "Chinglish." It is English in the signs and sayings that follows Chinese grammar rules or is poorly translated. There is not so much in Nanjing as there is usually no English at all, but it was all over Beijing. Now I cannot think of examples. But there is a sign by the elevators here that reads "rubbish recepticle" by the trash can. There are better examples; wish I could think.

*Smoking is everywhere, including the elevators.

*Lastly, there is no firm price (except the supermarket and malls). Everything is bartered. The vendors try to hide their excitement when a foreigner comes to their stall, but it is difficult for them. They could make a profit off one American to equal a month's wages, or more. We decided to barter for the girls' dresses and a shirt for the rest of us in Chinese tradition. Each purchase has a story, but here's my favorite; it is for my shirt. Walk in. Swarmed by two salesladies. (Jill explained 5 years ago no one would have waited on us because they were all paid the same whether they work or not. Now pay is by commission.) I picked out the shirt, asked the price. 360 yuan. (1 US dollar = 7.6 yuan.) I say, "No, thank you" and shake my head. "No?" (gives me calculator) "How much?" I type in 30. Salesclerk pretends to be shocked and dismayed. Fellow sales girl enters and begins bemoaning she was gone when the Americans came. She is clueless how much is communicated in non-verbals/tone and the word, "American" which sounds like "American" in Mandarin! "Okay, 220 yuan." "No, 30." "120" "No, thank you. (walk away). "Wait! 90!! 90!" "No, 30, thank you, I'll go over there." "Okay, okay, 40." "Deal." They still made a killing, but it's the price I was going for. Gullible American.

We leave for Guanghzou tomorrow. We may or may not have internet access and may or may not be able to send pictures if we do. We have one week down!!!! We are glad we came.

Pictures for Finding Day and Orphanage Day

Here are some pictures of Josie in our hotel room, her finding site, the orphanage, the street side driving by, and Josie and her Baba.

Look at that arm move!

This young gal was so interested in Josie's story; I hope word gets around that Josie has a home!

Josie's bed is at the front. The other empty be is Abbys.

The little girl who's left has a family; we had her on our list to get pictures for her mommy.

Note bicycles and clothes hanging out to dry; these were everywhere!

Orphanage Visit

This morning the three of us who are adopting from Nanjing's Social Welfare Institute, plus a couple of other families visited the orphanage. We discovered Josie and Abagail's beds were in a threesome. Only one little girl is there now and she has a family. We took lots of pictures for them. Seeing Josie's little bed in the corner by the heater and the window was the only time I cried. Most of the time I was shooting pictures and making sure we were getting lots of the kids we had on our list. There is a yahoo group for that orphanage and the hopeful parents sent us their children's names before we left. We saw one group eating lunch in the hall. We saw three rooms for the 0-1 year olds (all in their cribs) and several rooms for the 1-2 year olds (all in their cribs). There are play rooms and learning rooms which we also took pictures of, but there were no children in them. As we left the orphanage director (a different one this time) gave us a little glass ornament with An Hong's name on it, the chicken zodiac, and good luck wishes. They gave us a brocade of the symbol of Nanjing with a card (which I've not yet read because Wendy told me it would make me cry). Josie and Wendy's Abagail shared the same room from the time of entrance (they were born a week apart) until May 8th. They will fly back to the states on the same flight too. The orphanage was clean and the children interacted with us. But it is still hard to see so many babies in their cribs crying. No one responds.

Josie did fine. We took her in not knowing what her reaction would be. We put her in a carrier facing her Baba so she would feel more secure and so the nannies could not take her to hold her (they still tried). She was tired but didn't cry. In fact, she didn't really respond to them at all. But they gushed over her and were obviously pleased to meet her Baba and Mama. And I am so glad for their care of Josie for these last two years. She made it!

It's Official

Today we finalized the adoption and Josie is now officially ours according to PRC! Yesterday we had signed a 24 hour guardianship agreement as they have us wait a day as a kind of "trial run" before the adoption is permanent. While waiting Josie had a major meltdown and so I took her outside of the building. A large number of Chinese people were quite disturbed by her show and came up to talk to her so she kept it up for some time. (I had made her take the Cheerio with her right hand, which she is quite capable of doing, hence the drama.) The children here seem to be given whatever they want and are not told no according to what I have seen. She has quite an adjustment ahead of her. This evening she pushed down her little friend we were visiting, so Daddy put her in his lap. Another meltdown. These next few days may be a battle of "I'm more stubborn than you are" and she has an advantage being in China where so many are sympathetic to her. But I am getting off-topic. I meant to say, "hurray!!!!!!!! She is ours!!!!!!!!!"

And I should also add, we started to see a happy little girl this afternoon. I laid down with her at naptime and she talked and sang a song and vocalized more than we'd imagined she could (hey, she doesn't know what "shhh" means!). After our rest, she was all smiles and giggles. Yesterday there was only a rare smile and we had to work for it! Also, Grams will be glad to know her first English word was "giraffe." We were looking through a book of animals and she said it three times! Her first Chinese word was "mama" which is what the nannies call themselves.

In an ironic twist, on the day she officially has her family, we went with our guide, Min, to visit her "finding spot." I so wish I could post pictures right now but that will have to wait a day. We took a taxi to the "gate" which turned out to be a little street with 3-4 story buildings. A group of men were playing a card game on the corner. Another corner held a little garden for sale with two elderly gentlemen and a dog standing guard. The gate was actually a door into one of the buildings. In the window were ducks ready to be sold and inside was a butcher store. There was a little ledge along the window beside the door on which I imagine she was placed. As I took pictures, several people began to gather around and Min showed them the finding ad. The butcher store was there two years ago but Min didn't tell me if the people inside remembered An Hong. One young woman held Josie's hand and told us she loved her name and was quite taken by her story. Four or five of the people inside came in. A grandmotherly lady told us we should have Josie's legs covered (it was the first time we'd ventured out without every inch covered on her; we'd been worried she'd dehydrate with all the sweat!). More and more came, though they backed out of the pictures. We hope word will somehow get back to the birth family (assuming they are unofficially known; which is quite possible). I am so thankful to have had this opportunity. Only one other family in our group was able to visit their son's site.

And on a lighter note, we had McDonald's for dinner tonight. We just could not handle the other smells today. We had a quarter pounder with cucumbers and a spicy sauce. It was very good. Josie likes fries. Unfortunately, we had to dump the drinks out since we couldn't communicate that we didn't want ice. We've been very careful to only drink sealed water bottles and not eat any uncooked fruits or veggies we couldn't peel. So far so good! I am still light-headed and dizzy some, but I assume I am missing something from my usual diet and hopeful I will figure it out soon.

Chloe, we found a traditional Chinese dress for you today (in pink of course) and have a light blue one for Josie. Michael, we are trying to find a good outfit for you, too. We have to barter for them and I'm quite sure we are being taken. But most of us don't mind so much because the cost is still minimal. Today, for instance our taxi ride to the finding spot and back (across a town of millions, mind you) was a little over four US dollars. McDonalds costs about the same though ( :

Tomorrow is a museum and a tour of Josie's orphanage. Pray she is not frightened by the return or confused by it. Next day our group plans to go to a park and then perhaps a brocade museum (Nanjing is famous for it). The next day it is on to Guangzhou for a week of waiting for the US to issue Josie's visa.

Gotcha Day

It is now 8:45 pm and Josie is sound asleep in her crib next to our bed. When they called Josie's name and had us come forward (3rd of 12) she started to let me take her but soon began to cry. We learned quickly that she likes to throw herself backwards when unhappy! But we had learned a trick from Grandpa Riddle and had some fruity treats which quickly worked and had the tears stopped and an interested, if not content look on her face. We were able to meet her orphanage director (left in picture), Half-the-Sky Grandmother (the older lady of whom our reports said Josie was closest to), a nanny, and Coco-the assistant/interpreter for the orphanage director. I was able to ask many questions such as, what is special about An Hong? (She's smart and has a great smile.)

Josie was in a daze much of the day. She hates going into places because she loves being outdoors. She cries when she doesn't get her way and right now this is the only way she has to communicate, so we are getting a lot of it! But tonight we gave her Hawiian pizza and she did well. (Did you hear that Chloe and Michael; won't she fit right in?) After a piping hot cup of milk, she was even giggling! She is frightened of so much; there are so many new things: the gold fish in the elegant hotel pond, a real bath (instead of a sponge bath), stores...

Health: She has one ear with a smaller hole; I have not yet looked in it. She does not seem to have an ear infection or any trouble with upper respiratory!! Her skin is a mess. The nannies say it is very sensitive, even for an Asian child and that it scars very easily. I'd say. Her body has little marks all over-possibly scratched bug bites. But the bath and lotion helped. Her hand is doing well. She has full range of motion in the fingers and a functional grip. She lacks some supination actively (turning palm up) and her shoulder is quite involved. It will be enlightening to see X-rays in a couple of months. Her scapula is winged and I don't yet know if it I can get it to retract passively. She also has some bony involvement in the back of her hand at her wrist, pinky side. Again, perhaps an X-ray will help figure out what is going on there. We are looking at lots of therapy. Surgery may be necessary, but I'm pretty clueless about that.

Bonding: She is making great eye contact! It is a little difficult for her to relax, but the low tone helps (she can't maintain the muscle tone to support herself away from us when we're feeding her a tippy cup of hot milk). She is smiling and watching us and prefers us to the strangers around her, even the Chinese.

Thank you for praying for us. I am feeling much better; not sick today. The food we can happily eat here is limited (lots of eel, chicken feet, duck liver...), so pray for our nutrition/strength. Every day our scheduled activities are different and at different times, so you can also pray for Josie's sleep and for us to still try to get to some sort of schedule. A friend is adopting an older boy who is very active and having a difficult time fully accepting his mom because of the language barrier. She is here by herself. Pray for strength and wisdom for her. We hope to tour the orphanage and also go to Josie's finding site. Please pray that works out for us as there are six other families our guide is also working with. And continue to pray that Josie will bond with us and quickly learn our limits (ie. not push them constantly or throw fits).

Chloe and Michael, it has been great to talk with you on the phone. You are going to love Josie. She is precious. We are showing her lots of pictures of you two and she cannot wait to meet you. We can already tell she is a bit ornery, stubborn, and loves to read. Does she sound like a Riddle?

PS: On the plane yesterday from Beijing to Nanjing, a travel mate read about Greensburg.

Meet Josie An Riddle!

Hello everyone!

At approximately 10:30 AM China time, we had the opportunity to meet our new daughter: Josie An Riddle.

Here are some pictures...

More Photos from Beijing

This is the Night Food Court. You see starfish and octipi. Lots of strange creatures here served on sticks. There was one very pungent dish called stinky beans. It made Selena gag.

The portion of the Great Wall Chris climbed.
(Sorry for the small size - this photo wouldn't load correctly!)

The copper vessels have a design hand drawn. Then a lady guestimates the copper wire length, dips it in glue and places it over the line...again and again. Then the vase is covered with enamel powder and fired. This occurs 5 times to fill up the area with enamel. It is hand powdered/painted. Then it is filed and polished. All by hand! Amazing

This is an "official" standing guard at the place the emperors are buried. Between Chris and me is our Beijing guide, "Jill."

These gals are performing a routine to music, bending themselves in ways you wouldn't think the human body could bend, all while spinning those plates.

Second Post from China

Sunday (your Saturday night) we packed in a full day in Beijing. After touring a jade factory and store we climbed the Great Wall. Well, Chris did. He bought a t-shirt at the top that says, "I climbed the Great Wall." I tried to find one that said, "I threw up on the Great Wall" but I don't think they sold them. Let's just say I left my mark and it wasn't even half way up. I didn't earn the t-shirt either. All was well by lunch time where we enjoyed some new dishes, thankfully Americanized Chinese food. Afterwards we toured an enamel ware/brass store and I took some photos of the process (which I am hoping to post). Sorry about the lack of photos. We cannot seem to get them to go over the internet quickly enough, even though we can download them to the computer. Next we toured an area of the Ming Tomb and finished up with a Chinese acrobats show. (We'd seen one in Branson a few years back and this was similar but shorter. It's a good thing; many of us were falling asleep during the show. We are exhausted!)

Monday we rose early to catch our flight to Nanjing. We arrived at our hotel about an hour ago and have a meeting in another hour. Tomorrow is Gotcha Day! We are so excited to meet Josie!

I am feeling a bit sick right now; may be coming down with a fever. Please pray for me to be healthy when we get our girl tomorrow!

If the pictures load, there is one of the Night Food Court not far from our hotel in Beijing and the rest are from our day's activities.

We're Here!

It took us a while. Our 3 hour layover in Chicago ended up being 10 hours. But after spending the day at the airport we were able to get on the plane at 8pm (we left home at 3:30 am). The picture of the haz. mat team happened after we were boarded. We had a jet fuel spill! So we finally got started on the 12 hour flight after an hour on the plane waiting for the cleanup! We arrived at our hotel in Beijing at 1am. Chris wanted me to make sure you heard his highlight of the trip: two airplane meals and one snack.

Today (Saturday) we got to see Tianamen Square. The picture in front of the Olympic Countdown Clock is of us standing in the Square.





We also toured the Forbidden City (picture of us with the lion).

The afternoon was spent on a Hutong tour in the old neighborhood of Beijing. These homes are courtyard-based and high in community living (including a shared squatty potty). A woman who had lived there for 45 years cooked us a sampler lunch in her home! What a rare opportunity that was! The picture of us eating is part of our travel group. We are in her living room. The other table was in her bedroom area. The entire house was the size of our living room back home. And she and her husband raised three children there! We traveled there by rickshaw and that picture was taken by our driver.

I didn't even make it through one day before I got to experience my first squatty potty! But it was a "Three Star" and is said to be much cleaner than the usuals.

Tomorrow we are to tour the Great Wall, a jade factory (jade bracelets are passed down from mother in law to daughter in law), and the Ming tomb. Monday we fly to Nanjing and meet Josie on Tuesday. We have limited access to the internet here in Beijing. (I am using a travel-mate's laptop right now!) So I may not be able to update you until after we are in Nanjing.

Prayer: For a good night's sleep. We are going on about 3-4 hours' sleep for the last three nights! For adjustment to the 13 hour time difference. For health as we are going on limited sleep and we are being pushed during the day with tours so we will stay awake during the day!

Chloe and Michael, we love you and miss you! Thanks for calling us!

Last Entry from Home

Well, it is finally time! Josie and Mommy's bags are packed and Daddy should at be starting soon. The big bag was less than 35 pounds, so we made it under the limit! We did receive our seat assignments and they are not together!! But we think once we get to Chicago we can straighten that out. There are now seven families in our travel group; all of us going to Nanjing, the provincial capitol, but only two or three are actually adopting from that city's orphanage. We are going to try to get a little bit of sleep tonight before heading out in the wee hours. After all this time, it is amazing we are going! I thought the Beijing stretch would be a hard wait, so e-mailed a friend (Tammy) who has already gone through this process. She says Beijing was a very busy time, but the last week in Guanghzou seemed to drag on and she just wanted to get home. So now the above ticker is changed and the countdown is for the homecoming. Monique, does that sound familiar?

Deep Thoughts ( ;

Four more days to take-off! Tomorrow I can finally start packing (I've been trying to hold off). Today our church had a dear friend, Samson, pray for us during the service. And at least four different sets of people we ran into at WalMart tonight (gotta love small towns) assured us they would be praying for us. That means so much to us as we are heading off into the unknown (both culturally and with Josie). Samson "gave" us the following Bible verse from Deuteronomy 31:8, "The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you" and it follows, "He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." Just the night before I told Chris I sure hope God is not leading us into a huge challenge; so I needed the reminder. We also discussed that if our plane were to go down (not that we are living in fear of that), we wouldn't be mortified of dying. We know where we are going. But we would have a terrible time thinking of Chloe and Michael growing up with that history. Chris decided this must mean he is a dad-to be concerned not for himself but for his daughters and son. So it is good to know our friends and family are praying for us. We are excited to go and also VERY curious as to who our little daughter is-what she's like, what makes her smile, how overwhelmed she will be, how receptive to us, how soon she can be potty trained (just kidding). Chloe practically beams when you ask her about Josie. Michael usually reminds us we are getting a little brother next.

Also, here is a link a mom sent out who had taken video footage of the Nanjing social welfare institute (orphanage) where Josie lives. Josie is not in the videos, but it shows the play rooms, some of the other children, and even a bowl of food (any guesses?). http://s89.photobuc ket.com/albums/ k239/AmyHeymann/ nanjing%20videos / All of the children have been found by their forever families and are just waiting. If you are interested in finding your own, just let me know and I'll give you CCAI's waiting child contact person. There are lots of 9-12 year olds who are running out of time and there are four boys on our agency's waiting list right now that no family has claimed.

Please Pray!

Here are the things I find myself having anxiety over and trying to "take captive." I'd sure love it if you would pray. Some of them are quite silly, but I usually don't hold back about myself with friends, even the silly things, so I'll let my blog reflect me.

*We leave town at 3 am. In my worst moments, I worry we won't leave on time and will miss the plane (and loose a substantial amount of money!).
*I'm getting my hair chopped off Thursday. See, I told you there were some trivial things on this prayer list! I would like to not have to dry long hair in China and not have to untangle it here. But I'd still like it to look nice ( : (Update: here's the pict. just for Leigh Anne! I had just enough hair to donate to Locks of Love!)*We need to pack our things and Josie's in two bags and they need to be less than 40# each. That may be plenty, I just haven't ever packed with a weight limit and don't want to panic at the last minute when I weigh my bag at 60#!
*We want to be a blessing to our travel companions. Please pray we will be good sports, willing to serve, and good listeners!
*Of course, our main concern is with Josie. Please pray for her attachment to us, our ability to anticipate and respond to her needs, and for our adjustment as well. We really don't know what physical or emotional condition she will be in.
*Lastly, pray for our health. Okay, maybe not lastly. I mean, would I rather be sick in China with a cute haircut or healthy with a bad haircut? ( :

Why China?

Most of us have heard about China's one child policy. Some know that China relies on their sons for support for the elderly since there is no "retirement" (son = social security; daughter = nothing). Others understand the worth of women in Asia is nowhere near the Christian view of the "crowning creation." But why did we choose China? If you want a glimpse of our heart, you may click on this link. But be warned, it is a NPR news story and is graphic. http://www.npr. org/templates/ story/story. php?storyId= 9766870

Pediatricians and Bunk Beds

First, I'd just like to say we have the greatest pediatrician! I was impressed back when we adopted Chloe and she caught that some blood work had been done before a blood transfusion and wanted to know if we wanted to re-do the blood work to make sure everything was still negative. I'd missed it, and I'd read the medical chart at least twice.

This time I called to see if she thought we'd need antibiotics (a lot of the children have ear infections or bronchitis) and she not only gave us samples (our insurance would not have covered a prescription until after the official adoption), she included dosages and samples of other OTC medicines we may need. She also included a list of other recommended items and put it all on a prescription pad so we won't have difficulty getting it into China. And to top it off, she gave us the Rx in powder so it will be lighter, and gave the yummy stuff so we won't have to fight Josie to take it if she does need it. What a blessing!

Secondly, we had a productive weekend! Despite all the activity surrounding our church's pastoral candidate visit, Chris set up the bunk bed for the girls and we re-arranged the furniture in Michael and Chloe's room and brought out the clothes for Josie (even though we don't know which size she'll be). We just have a little bit more baby-proofing to do!