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!

Tentative Schedule

May 3rd Leave for China.
May 4th Arrive in Beijing, China.
May 5-6 Tour Beijing, adjust to time change.
May 7th Fly to Nanjing, China.
May 8th Receive Josie.
May 9th Register the adoption.
May 10th Tour and meetings.
May 11th Receive Josie's passport.
May 12th Fly to Guangzhou, China.
May 13th Tour Guangzhou.
May 14th Josie's physical exam and visa photo.
May 15th Meetings.
May 16th Consulate appointment (package delivered).
May 17th Oath at consulate and receive Visa.
May 18-19 Return home!

Trial Run

While we are in China, Kim E. will be receiving an e-mail from us which she will post on this blog. So, thank you, Kim, for your willingness to do this for us! This post and Easter photo are our trial run. The picture is Chris' family. All three sets of Grandpa and Grandma's children are expecting this year! So far we know two are girls!

Another Family Took a Picture!

I belong to an e-mail group of families who've adopted from Chloe's orphanage, so I quickly found one from Josie's orphanage as well. These groups do much to fill in the gaps of what is known about those first months or years our children were waiting to be placed in their families. I was happy to have one mother volunteer to take pictures when she visited the orphanage during her adoption process. Around 20 of us sent her our baby's name and date of birth. This is the picture her husband took of Josie. We think she looks sad and it makes us want to get her in our arms as quickly as possible. This mom said the babies were quite overwhelmed to have someone rush into their room and want them to pose for a camera; several were crying in their photos.

Tickets: Check.

Yeah!!! We have purchased our tickets! It is so good to have that part done. We will be flying out of a near-by city on May 3rd, early in the morning. We will arrive in Beijing at 3 pm on May 4th. We have just a tiny three-hour layover in Chicago. Yeah! Then we will leave China via Hong Kong (which is much closer to our final destination than Beijing would be) at 1pm on 5/18 and arrive back at our near-by city at 10pm the same day. I don't expect anyone will want to be there to welcome us at that hour! But we'll just have a couple more hours to get home. Amazing, huh? Who would have thought you could travel 1/2 way around the world in just 9 hours? Okay, so a 13 hour time change does make a difference. We'll actually be travelling with Josie for around 25 hours, depending on when we leave Guanghzou.

We "met" another family through the CCAI waiting child listserve and they are traveling from Chicago to Beijing and then Hong Kong to Chicago with us! They will be one of the four families in our group traveling to Nanjing to adopt a waiting child. One more month!

Time to Book Tickets!

CCAI called this morning. We are to be in Beijing no later than May 5th and will leave China with Josie An on May 18th! Our consulate appointment (on which the whole schedule hangs) is on the 16th. We will stay in Beijing a couple of days to recover from jet lag and get used to the 13 hour time difference. Then our group of four families, all adopting from the waiting child program, will fly to Nanjing where we will meet our children! Today or tomorrow we need to book our flights! I have e-mailed a travel agent who works with adopting families and am hoping to be able to use her. The travel agencies CCAI recommends are usually over-priced. Our other option is to call the airline directly. It is a bit tricky since we have two over and three on the way home. Also, it would be better for us to arrive in Beijing and leave via Hong Kong! Please pray for wisdom for me as I ask questions and decide what to do. Please also pray for good rates. Thank you!