Day 7- A Day to Rest!

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 

and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Today is Wednesday November 11th, and the seventh day of our journey.  Cindy had a day of sightseeing planned for today, but after yesterday, we thought it would be better to just take a day of rest and get to know Mo-She a little better.  After all the travel yesterday we came back to the room and everyone showered, had something to eat, and went right to bed.  I think Mo-She was so tired he didn't have time to think about being sad.   He awoke this morning the same as yesterday, sitting up talking to himself, and playing with his little toys.  When Ken approached him he said a big "Hi Ba Ba!" Way too precious for words.  He is transitioning so well and we feel so blessed and thankful for all our prayer warriors out there who have been covering him for this prayer need!  God is good and so faithful!

We will enjoy spending the day at our hotel.  This place is truly amazing.  We have a beautiful King suite attached to another beautiful Queen suite.  It reminds us of the opulence of the Grand Floridian Resort in Florida. (Shout out to my girls Bernie, Mona, Jasmine & Shelly . . .  you guys remember how crazy beautiful that place was!)   It is a very comfortable living space for us and we feel very spoiled.  We are not looking forward to leaving on Friday!

Lobby

Entrance to our rooms.

They provided us with a little crib/daybed which is the perfect size for Mo-She.

There is a large window between both bathrooms and the bedroom area.  Fortunately it has a remote control shade that you can lower.  Cindy said that is how all the hotel rooms are in China.  The whole room is automatic and has motion sensors that come on when you walk in the bathrooms.  You even open the drapes with a remote control.

Mo-She is a very busy little guy.  He likes to walk around the room with his green backpack on that he brought with him on Monday.  He stops and takes something out to play with, then packs it back up and moves on to something else.  He is so smart and learns new things very quickly.  He also knows many English words and says them very clearly.  He likes music and sings songs to himself. Some of them are Chinese childrens songs that we recognize from a DVD we used to play for the girls.  Others we recognize are Jesus Loves Me (singing it in Chinese is too precious for words!) and yesterday he started to sing Jingle Bells!  He also likes to look at books.  I brought a few early reader Biscuit books and he looks at them constantly.  He also picked out a little picture book from Wal-Mart that he carries with him and sleeps with at night.  I don't think the pictures show how really tiny he is.  He is much smaller than we expected and the size 4 clothes we brought for him are all too big.  We cannot believe he is 5 years old.  He seems like the size of a 3 year old and only weighs 28 lbs.

He loves this water painting book I brought for him.

Walking around with his backpack and water shoes that are two sizes too big for him!

He is also enjoying his Bubble Whistle we brought. (That is a size 4 shirt on him and is huge!)

Time to go down to breakfast.

Chinese breakfast buffet.

After breakfast we decide it will be a good idea to take a little walk.  There is a public park not far from the hotel we thought would be fun to explore.  The temperature here is in the 50's with clouds and smog.  A lot cooler than we expected it would be in Henan.  

We bought this little hat and coat at Wal-Mart due to the one we brought was way to big.  He looks absolutely adorable in it, don't you think?

Our walk to the park was quite an experience.  The scooters share the sidewalk with pedestrians and you have to watch to not get in their way!  It is worth the effort though, the park is beautiful and has a lot of stone paved paths for the girls to explore.  I'm sure it is even more beautiful in the Spring though when all the lotus flowers are in bloom.

 

Entrance to Zijingshan Park

The park had a little amusement area with a stand that sold toys.  Of course we left with some new cars for Mo-She!

These Grandma came up to us and pointed to the girls smiling and gesturing a thumbs up. . . . . As if they were happy they were with us.  I asked them if I could take a picture!

We returned to the hotel with Mo-She sleeping in Ken's arms.  The girls could not wait for him to awake so they could check out the pool next!  When we got there they found out they would have to wear bathing caps to swim in the big pool.  They were not too happy about this.  I told them me and Aunt Susie used to have to wear bathing caps to swim when we were their age, and Grandma Fischer always used to wear a bathing cap when she swam.  It was really not a big deal!  There desire to swim was fortunately greater than their resistance to put the cap on.

Daddy and I think they look absolutely beautiful in their caps!  I had to get permission from them to post this picture!  (A few bribes helped!)

Mo-She was not too excited about getting in the water.  I'm sure it was his first experience with swimming.   He sat on the ledge for awhile while Daddy gently coaxed him into the pool.

It did not take him long at all to warm up to the experience.  Within about 15 minutes he was jumping around and even going under the water and holding his breath!  He thought it was hilarious to splash his Ba Ba!

A great first swimming experience for sure!

It was definitely a full day well spent just having one on one time with Mo-She.  Everyone enjoyed the day.  The best part was no more tears when we laid him down in his little bed.  He said  good-night to everyone and fell fast asleep holding his little book of fruits and vegetables and a little plastic cup he has also grown attached too!

Good Night from China!

Day 6- Official Adoption Registration

"Sing praises to the Lord, you his faithful people; . . . .

weeping may stay for the night, but

joy comes in the morning!" Psalm 30:4-5

After a rough hour or so Mo-She fell asleep and slept through the night.  He awoke and sat up in his bed looking around a little confused but no tears.   We put some cartoons on the TV and that kept him occupied while we got ready for the day.  He soon was laughing at the TV, playing with his little phone and book while he talked to the girls in Chinese.  The girls are understanding him a lot easier than me and Ken are.  We have been trying to use the translator on our I-phone which doesn't do a very good job of recognizing his voice.  He talks to us constantly and it is so frustrating that we do not know what he is saying.  We told the girls to pack their backpacks with snacks and activities because we were going to be away all day.  Mo-She saw what they were doing and started to pack his backpack too.  He was making sure he was not leaving anything behind!

Watching them all walking together holding hands is just too cute!

First stop is breakfast.  His grieving has not hurt his appetite.  He ate rice, noodles, broccoli and watermelon for breakfast. . .. and not just a little!

Today is a very important day.  It's the day Mo-She "officially" becomes ours!   It is going to be a very long day of appointments and travel.  First we will have to go to the Notary then the Registration office to receive our official adoption papers.  We are then required to return to his orphanage city for his passport. We will need this for travel to Guangzhou on Friday. His orphanage is in the city of Zhumadian which is about 240 miles away and we will be taking the "fast train" to get there. Returning to the orphanage city is a new requirement in the adoption process and thankfully we did not have to make this trip for either of the girls.  We are actually very lucky the city of Zhumadian is only 3 hours away by van and 1 hour away by train.  Some of the other families will have to spend the night in their child's city due to it being too far away to make the trip there and back in one day.

It is hard to believe this is the same little boy who cried himself to sleep last night! He is starting to like riding in the van.

Our first stop was the Notary office.  Everything goes smoothly there then back in the van and off to the Registration office.  We sign more paperwork at the registration office saying that we are not changing our minds and want full responsibility of this child.  The deputy then tells us the adoption is approved in accordance with the requirements of the People's Republic of China.  Adoption registration is hereby permitted and the adoption relationship shall come into force on this date of registration.  He is now legally our son!  Praise the Lord!

 It's Official!

Next we are back in the van off to the train station.  The high speed train station is amazing.  It is very modern and enormous.  It actually looks bigger than our airport back home.  We have an hour to wait until our train leaves so we find an area to wait.  We are what appears to be the only Americans in the entire station so are drawing quite a lot of attention, especially the girls.  Young men keep coming and standing right in front of our seats staring at the girls.  It is a very uncomfortable situation and we can't wait until it is our time to leave.  The train looks like a larger version of the monorail train at Disney World.  I didn't take a picture because I wasn't taking a hand or eye off of my girls for one second!

Train station with smog.

Zhengzhou was once the capital city of China.  It is very large and congested and in the middle of the expansive countryside of Henan province.  The history of Henan province dates back to over 5000 years ago and is known for being mostly agriculturally focused.  Our train ride to Zhumadian City takes us through the countryside of Henan.  Unfortunately it is also one of the most polluted cities. The smog and gray skies unfortunately make the countryside view not very pleasant.

This is our guide for the day named Jim.  Ken went to find drinks for the girls and Mo-She had to use the bathroom while he was gone so Jim took him for me.  When he returned he said how "clever" (which the Chinese use for smart) Mo-She is.  After he used the bathroom Mo-She told him he had to wash his hands.  Jim asked him who taught him that (because almost all men in China do not wash their hands after using the bathroom) and he said my Father taught me to wash my hands!  (meaning Ken!)  Pretty amazing on only our second day together.

He loves his Ba Ba!

An hour train ride . . . . . then we all pile in the back of a very small taxi for the ride to the police station . . . . . . they do not open until 2:30 so we have a 45 minute wait in the parking lot.   After they open we wait for the orphanage director to come to complete the passport application. 

The Orphanage Director knows Mo-She very well and he runs up to her and raises his arms to be picked up.  It is so nice to see how much he was loved by everyone who took care of him.  The passport application and process took over an hour then it was another crazy taxi ride back to the train station . . . . . another wait for the train . . . . more rude people staring at my children  . . . . an hour train ride . . . . . . and another taxi back to our hotel!   We left the hotel at 9:00 this morning and it is now 7:30 pm.  You can imagine we are all exhausted and hungry never stopping for lunch or dinner.  It was not an easy day but all of my children are doing wonderful.  No complaining about anything.  I am so blessed!

Good Night from China!