traveling Xian

Xian is a big time tourist destination in China, home of the terra-cotta warriors and an ancient city wall. And it was the perfect way to relax as a family after two emotionally draining days.  But first, we had to get there :)

We woke to the most beautiful skies we had seen the entire trip and hit the highway.

Welcome to Shaanxi!  We drove all morning and finally arrived about 2pm.

Lunch and checked in to a hotel and walked to the city wall, bought our tickets and went up for a walk around the top (it's 14 km all the way around - this is serious wall!)

We tried our best to look serious too.

And bought weapon souvenirs to help with the total effect.

No weapons for us ladies, but Julianna did buy a purse - ha!

I'll go anywhere with this man.  anywhere.

About 5 pm we left the wall behind and headed to the Bell Tower area (behind Matt and I in the pic above), and then on to Muslim quarter for dinner.

Whew!  Another big day on the books.

one thousand stories *part 4*

First things first on Monday morning, a family picture.

Foster mama, her daughter in law and me :)

We drove into "town" to pick up a few things for lunch.  John Paul started this day so much more confident and at ease!  He trotted into her courtyard like he owned the place and headed straight to the water pump.  At the store he was "helping" foster mama carry her goods and get them to the checkout lady.

We also visited the electric motor scooter shop that her son owns (located right across from the store - it's a very small town).

Back at home and cooking again.  This was one of my favorite moments of Monday - four of our kids and one granddaughter were playing UNO in the bedroom and I went looking for John Paul.  He was in the kitchen with foster mama, just the two of them.

And here she is, keeping him as safe as possible while he plays with the fire!

At lunch with Zhao Ya Hui

And another highlight, though filled with lots and lots of tears.  I showed them all the pictures I have of John Paul before we got him (not many - only about 7).  She was in most of them!  And I now recognize the background in all these pictures... "oh that's beside your house" "oh that one is taken right here in this room".

And then we looked at the pictures of the day we got him (also the day she said goodbye).  He was picked up by the lady who coordinates foster care for the orphanage at 6am that morning, drove the hours Zhengzhou and met us about 10:30.  She gave him his last bath, dressed him in those clothes, bought him those shoes.

How she ever pried him out of her arms and placed him into the arms of a stranger and sent him off to meet us is beyond me.  But she did.  And going back to see her and honor her and thank her was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

our last weeks

[I plan to finish my stories from our trip last week, but in the meantime I'm getting behind on other big happenings.... or maybe little happenings?  But I don't want them to get lost, so here they are!]

We only have two weeks until we fly, two weeks to say a half-year goodbye to the life and people we love so much.  As our children grow I can see that the physical demands of preparing to move across the ocean are definitely decreasing (the travel just gets easier, my carryon doesn't weigh 15 pounds, our suitcases are mostly just clothing, not the 1001 things that babies and toddlers "need").  But the emotional demands of taking 5 little hearts across the ocean are increasing... difficult goodbyes here, and lots of relational unknowns ahead make for some rough sailing waters.  Oh that I could use these days well.

Added challenge: Matt has two big trips before we leave (one for work, one for fun), so it's a lot of solo parenting around here.

Right before we left on our trip we said our first hard goodbyes.

Julianna, Hailey, Madison

Sydney and Lydia

These Todd girls are big blessings to our whole family!  so grateful for good friends

Over the weekend was plenty hot and perfect pool weather.  Me and my little friends "twinning" at the pool :)

With no homeschool and relaxed days we are finding lots of fun (and I'm finding lots of ways to avoid the packing challenge looming on the horizon!)

Watching how-to art videos...

and sewing projects (that even Isaac will try)

Julianna cutting out pieces for a quilt and Lydia becoming a pro at making draw string bags.

So, that's that.  Last night we went bowling, today we are off to a friend's for dinner.  Matt leaves tomorrow for trip #1 and I'm going to start making some to-do lists - ha!

one thousand stories *part 3*

There are hundreds of ways for John Paul to entertain himself at foster mama's house.  Pumping water was a favorite for everyone.

also, tools.  and dirt.  check.

We wrapped dumplings for dinner.  But first, foster mama needed to make her own dough wrappers, using a clunky old noodle-making machine that was plugged into several different lengths of extension cord and tucked into the corner of her neighbor's storage room.  (Do I need to clarify that the neighbor was also a relative?  As far as I could tell most everyone was related in one way or another.)

Then back to her house to wrap the dumplings.  She was never entirely satisfied with my girls handiwork, or her granddaughters either - she has a bit of a no nonsense-ness about her and shoddily wrapped dumplings were not on her list of approved items!  But poorly wrapped dumplings or not, she was grinning the entire time.

Time to light the fire and John Paul was here to "help".  This was awesome because she pulled up a little chair and instructed him to sit in it and said "when you were little you would sit right there while I got the fire started".  This time around John Paul was hankering to feed the fire himself.  And after this, every time that fire got started there were plenty of children around, hoping to help.  Julianna and Lydia fed corn cobs to the fire for an hour on Monday!

Dumplings, boiled in cornmeal soup. I'm not sure how to describe this in a way that makes it sound appetizing, but it was delicious!

After dinner we loaded back in the van and headed to the hotel in a downpour.  We were exhausted.  But also delighted to be planning on another day with foster mama tomorrow!  

one thousand stories *part 2*

Sunday morning, waking up at our hotel in NanYang.  It was unseasonably cold, and rainy, and we were nervous.  We walk to the lobby and there she is, waiting....

John Paul wasn't sure what to do, or if he wanted to be the center of attention, or how to respond to her.  It was an awkward first hour, for everyone.  She had driven to the hotel with her son and oldest daughter and we all went to find some breakfast.  After a local specialty (beef noodle soup, which was delicious but I could hardly eat a bite) we dropped her daughter off at work and started our drive into the countryside.

John Paul was starting to relax.  The privilege of riding in the front seat of our van in his foster mama's lap sealed the deal.  {Don't worry, this might not be the safest way to travel, but it's perfectly legal - and in this case, worth the risk.}

Matt drove our van and I rode with her son and Julianna and a live fish (lunch) and a number of other interesting implements that a countryside farmer would have along.  Xiao Zhao (her son, who is two years younger than me) talked the entire drive... I was fascinated, learning about this part of the country and their lives and what they plant and the Chinese term to describe rolling hills (丘陵地带 ).

They just harvested winter wheat, and planted corn and peanuts.  Also hundreds of peach trees and family gardens.  This is fertile territory!

The countryside is spotted with small clusters of homes (villages) and interspersed with some larger "towns".  Foster mama lived in a village with about 15 homes, all built in a square courtyard shape.

On the right - kitchen and store room.  In the rear (up those steps) is the living room and two bedrooms.  On the left is farm storage.



The bed on the right is where John Paul slept (with foster mama) in the winter. In the summer he slept in a little cot in her room or on the other bed with his foster sister (who I am now determined to find! she was adopted a few months before John Paul and foster mama thinks she is in America).

She was so proud to show me she had framed some of the photos I've mailed to her!

FaceTiming my parents (that's the front door behind us).

We went on a walk through the village and down to a man-made reservoir.  I could not stop asking her questions and loved hearing all about life in the village and life with John Paul!

The sign marking the entrance to their village :)

At one point John Paul approached the two of us to show us the bug he had in his hands.  Before I could say "he's always catching bugs!" foster mama jumped in and said "oh when he lived here he was always catching bugs!"  Confirmed my suspicions that his love for all things farm and country and dirt and fire and tools and sticks started young.  You can take a boy out of the country, but you cannot take the country out of the boy!

She wanted to carry him down on her back "just like she used to".  They often walked up here after dinner.

It started sprinkling on our way back to her house and continued to rain for the next two days.  Sigh.  John Paul is sharing an umbrella with Zhao Ya Hui, foster mama's granddaughter, who is his age.  Zhao Ya Hui (and her older sister Zhao Ya Tong) was a big part of John Paul's early childhood.  Foster mama told some funny stories about John Paul bopping Zhao Ya Hui on the head when he wanted some of her food :).

Back at home Xiao Zhao and his wife were cooking lunch.  Yum.

Keeping John Paul fed is a full time job - my boy has a big appetite!  I cannot imagine what it was like to feed him in his early months with his cleft lip unrepaired.  I do know foster mama was a busy lady!

Trip to the bathroom.  They have a water pump and some indoor plumbing in the kitchen and for a washing machine.  But they haven't upgraded their outhouse.

Street in her village

Feeding the baby chickens...

Me: When he was little did he help you feed the chickens?
Foster mama: Yes! He squeezed one to death!!! After that I had to keep a close eye on him!

I laughed and laughed!  Squeezing a chicken to death is exactly what I would have guessed John Paul would have done!  And she and I both know that "keeping a close eye" and "John Paul" always belong in the same sentence!

The entire time we were there she called him Dang Qi Wen (his orphanage-given name). By the end of the two days he was lifting his head and looking for her when she called his name.  Even Julianna was referring to him as Dang Qi Wen when she talked about him with foster mama.  The entire family (foster mom and dad, and her children, and her grandchildren) called our kids "Jie jie" (big sister = Julianna), "Mei Mei" (little sister = Lydia), "Lao San" (number three = Isaac), Dang Qi Wen (John Paul), and "Lao Yao" (local dialect slang meaning baby of the family = Luke).  

Foster dad.  This has got to be the sweetest Chinese man I've ever laid eyes on.  He smiled just like this our entire visit.  Such a gentle voice and kind eyes and quiet spirit.  He's not in great health (has recently had several stints put in his heart) and I could not understand him very well.  [I was shocked at how well I was able to understand foster mama... I was so grateful the Lord allowed us to converse so freely and easily.]

I've more stories to go, but stopping here for today :).

one thousand stories *part 1*

I could tell a thousand stories about the past few days.  They have been incredible.  More than we ever hoped for or dreamed of.  It will takes days to blog it all, but I will.  Because I hope I never forget these moments, and I know my memories will dim.

The best place to start?  The beginning :)

Our first hours on the road (Friday evening) were smooth and we made much better time than expected (this is, without doubt, the BEST way to start a road trip!)

One quick night in an, ummm..... average Chinese hotel and we were back on the road early, bound for Henan.

The roads are wide, and smooth, and very lightly travelled.  China has invested heavily in infrastructure in recent years, including interstates (inter-provinces?) and we definitely benefitted!  We've spent more money on tolls than on fuel but let me assure you, it was worth every cent!

I've spent hours on mountainous journeys through the northern and western parts of our province and these roads were so much better than I was expecting!

Finally, about 5pm and it was WELCOME TO HENAN!

John Paul spent his first 19 months in a village outside of NanYang, Henan.

Matt and I (and baby Luke) travelled to Zhengzhou, Henan when we got John Paul.  We also drove from Zhengzhou to Nanyang (over 4 hours) where we stopped briefly to apply for John Paul's passport, meet his foster mama (for about ten minutes), visit the hospital where he was abandoned and then drive right back to Zhengzhou.  It was one of our hardest days ever.  No one should take a 9 hour road trip with a 4 month old infant and a toddler they adopted the day before.  But it was what it was, and we did it.  Anyways, I was glad to be back in NanYang for a longer visit, and in less stressful circumstances.

We got to Nanyang, checked into the hotel, ate dinner, and got all our people tucked into bed.  Then we called John Paul's foster mom to tell her we made it.  She asked if she could pick us up at 7am the next morning!  She was so excited!  We suggested waiting closer to 8am and went to bed with a big day on the horizon!

rushing into June

Well I still haven't posted about my birthday, and it was a big one :)

But June is here and it's going to go in a hurry, so I'll have to go back and add in my birthday post when I can.  For now, here's our story -

We leave today, as soon as Matt gets home from work, headed north.  It's road trip time!

Almost 5 years ago Matt and I made our first trip to Henan (with baby Luke in tow), to get our John Paul and bring him home.  We briefly met his foster mama, and we have been able to stay in touch with her over the years.  And now, we are going to visit her!  It's exciting and nerve-wracking, and filled with emotion, and (we dream) so so valuable for John Paul as he starts to understand and own more of his own story.

We drive four hours tonight - north and east - and booked a hotel in a smaller city along the way (still in our province).  Tomorrow we have another 11 hours on the road and will spend the night in Nanyang, Henan.  His foster mom lives in a village about an hour out of town, and we will spend Sunday and Monday with her.  Then, "on the way home", we will drive through Xi an, and see the terra-cotta soldiers and a few other important sights.

So it's a big trip, and it's coming at a big time, and we've already had an emotionally loaded week as we started saying some goodbyes (friends we will not see again until next January/February).  And the Chinese highway system is much more developed than it was ten years ago, but it's still not my favorite way to travel.  I'll be packing the computer, and hope to blog some along the way.

Off to do the final packing and then we are off!