Orphanage Visit Day

Yesterday, we finalized all the paperwork for here in Province. After a long morning of paperwork, we came back to the hotel to a lunch of peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Turns out, Kameron hates peanut butter. Each day we learn more about him. His likes and his dislikes.

In one of these small apartments, is where the Kunming City orphange and Civial Affairs does the adoption paperwork. They found that having this done in the government buildings was quite intimidating to the children and "many babies would cry." 

To celebrate our success in completing a lot of paperwork, we went out for dinner. Kameron helped us order and with resturant edicate. He ordered very spicy but very yummy food. I was a HUGE fan of the dumplings!

Today, was Orphange Visit Day. I have got to say, that I was incredibly honored for the privillege to visit the orphange and the people who helped care for our son. It turns out, he is an incredibly popular guy! Everyone knew him and were joking around with him. I could tell it was a bit hard for him, but he was a trooper! He put up with mom's repeated papparazzi moments with only mild groans.

The sign and the gate of the orphanage. 

It was an extremely large place and it even has its own hospital there. We were impressed by how clean it was. The rooms were bright and colorful. And every worker at the orphanage, whether they were administrative, housekeeping, doctors, nurses or nannies-- they seemed to deeply care for the children.

A model of the vast property and buildings of the Kunming City orphanage.

We got to meet some very important people to Kameron's story. We learned much more about our boy then we had known before. We are very thankful that we got to meet these people and that they felt open to share more with us about Kameron.

This is the very first person we met. She is an incredibly friendly and warm person. She is a nurse and was there and cared for our boy the first day he was brought to the orphanage.

 The lady in gray was the main person from the orphanage with our adoption. She helped with paperwork and gave us the tour of the orphanage. We found her to be very friendly, always smiling, and liked to joke with Kameron. 

This is us with the doctor and staff who first treated Kameron when he came to the orphanage. She spoke very good English, which aside from our guide, we haven't encountered too much of here. She gave us lots more medical information about our son. There are also nannies that helped care for Kameron when he was in the orphanage.

This was Kameron's favorite nanny. He kept asking and calling for her. This was the first time he asked me to take a picture (as opposed to mom insisting) :)

This is where Kameron lived, I believe, before being placed in his foster family. He also stayed in a special room for the 3 days before Gotcha Day. There he had very personalized care and had a couple nannies.

This lovely lady helped care for Kameron the few days he was in the orphange, before our Gotcha Day.

We got to see many rooms for the babies and the toddlers. In Kunming they have a separate (outside of the gate) small building (the size of a small shed) that has a bed and is warm and safe. This allows mothers that want to abandon their babies to do so safely. This orphanage is one of only two that do this. Its such a complex emotion, to feel grateful for something that is so incredibly heartbreaking.

We learned some startling statistics. Last year, they had 200 children abandoned. This year, 100 children. And only maybe half of these will ever get adopted. And that broke our hearts.

Many of the children are placed in foster families some distance away and in a rural village. We were not able nor allowed to go there this time. But if we return for a visit with Kameron, we could go visit there. I was a bit sad (but had been prepared) that this would likely be the case. We so wish we could thank Kameron's foster parents ourselves for the great care and love they showed our boy. Jesse and I suspect a return to China, and specifically Kunming, will be in our future.

After visiting the orphanage, we got to have lunch with our guide, Susan. What an incredible blessing this woman is! I don't think I have ever seen her not smile. The joy she has for her job is evident. We have been so grateful for her. She jokes with Kameron and she has really helped us ease Kameron and get him out of his shell. She tells us often, "he is very smart, very funny, and a very good boy." She may have offered to take him home to teach her son a thing or two.

Susan and Kameron at lunch after our orphanage visit. I promise Kameron smiles, but mom had taken a million pictures today.

After lunch we had some rest time back at the hotel. Jesse and Kameron like to play games and communicate back and forth on the iPad. He tries to teach us Chinese words and then laughs at how horribly we pronounce them. He has now said well over 15 English words. Which we very emphatically encourage. He picks things up quickly and misses nothing!

After, we walked around Green Lake, a very busy local spot. We seemed to be the only tourists around. I got my 10,000 steps in easily.

Two of the entrances to Green Lake Park.

And they even have adult exercise equipment (the red and yellow structures). 

Here is a picture of Green Lake with the "very lucky birds" (seagulls) we mentioned in a previous post.

Green Lake is known for the Lotus Flower. But it fades this time of year. The weather has been very good. Only requiring a light jacket in the morning and evenings. It's easy to see why they call it "eternal spring" here.

Well, its dinner time here. And we are eating panda...

(Instant noodles with panda faces in them. They also come with individual forks, which is just genius!)

(And these are panda shaped twinkies. These have chocolate filling and are delicious)

We are having a fabulous time here. Tomorrow we have sightseeing and shopping. Our posts will be a bit less frequent and will be longer as time allows for us to update. We are having a great time getting to know Kameron. He is an incredibly kind and thoughtful young man.

Gotcha Day!!

We were too excited this morning to be of much use. Luckily our guide offered to meet up with us to explore more of Kunming City. We got to walk all around Green Lake. On our walk she told us many times that we "look too young to have 3 now 4 boys" (Basically, I love her) and that we arrived just in time to see the Seagulls which means "very good luck." It struck me as funny, growing up in a suburb of Washington for that to be a symbol of good fortune.

After a small lunch (Jesse and I were too anxious for a hearty meal) we had some downtime before we went to see Kameron for Gotcha Day. The driving here.. let's just say there is no way I could drive here and I have vowed to never complain about Boise traffic again (I know, I probably will). And the trip to see him, thankfully, was brief aside from the traffic. We arrived to our meeting spot and there he was!

We were all so nervous we weren't really sure what to do, except look at one another. Until our guide got us closer and started snapping pictures.

If we look incredibly nervous, it's because we were! After awhile we all relaxed a bit. Kameron really liked the How to Draw a Comic Book we gave him. He started drawing Jesse as a pirate-- patch, peg leg and all..

And pretty soon, we got a smile. And that made Jesse and I relax immensely....

We got to ask lots of questions about him. He is pretty shy, but warms after awhile. He thinks Jesse is very tall (he certainly isn't wrong-- Jesse has gotten many stares and a few locals have snapped pictures of him as he walked by). He also is incredibly funny! He speaks very little English, but is very expressive. He also is a gentleman. He would offer me his arm as we walked around the city, held my chair out for me to sit at dinner and helped us order dinner as the folks there had no idea what I was asking them-- till Kameron took charge! He is a pretty incredible young man.

I also loved that they asked him to sign and give his print in agreement to being adopted, just like we had. He smiled the entire time he was completing the paperwork. 😀

Now, we are having a lazy and relaxing evening. Jesse and him have found ways to occupy themselves. Right now they are playing dual Fruit Ninja. And Kameron has beat him every time! Im sitting hear enjoying these two bonding and giggling....

More paperwork to come tomorrow! We likely won't be able to update as much, as we spend our free time getting to know our boy more!

Thank you for your continued prayers and support as we all get to know one another.

We have arrived safe in Kameron's Province

Yesterday afternoon, we checked out of our hotel and got ready to say goodbye to our friends in Hong Kong. We had a delicious lunch and got to experience more amazing local foods that we found very yummy! We also were charmed by that many of the tables have a drawer on the side filled with utensils, napkins, etc. What a genius idea!

We tried milk tea (which I thought tasted more like an iced coffee), a basic ham sandwich (though we were tickled to learn that much of the bread in Hong Kong has the crust cut off.. A little fact we thought a certain child of ours would LOVE and whole heartedly agree with). And the last picture is of french toast. Now I'm not a fan of french toast, whatsoever. But this stuff was more eggs than anything and stuffed with peanut butter. Now, Ive found some I can get on board with and I'm a HUGE fan!

Jesse and I are big fans of food and are self proclaimed "foodies." We love cooking, watching the Food Network, and getting to experience new things. This trip really captured our love for food and we thoroughly enjoyed our tastebud adventures in Hong Kong!

We got to shop a bit around the airport, and got some more cold medicine (we are feeling much better, but still have some mild lingering congestion and coughs) before we had to say goodbye to our friends. Thank you again, Daniel and Carmen for a very wonderful time in Hong Kong!

After we said our goodbyes, we went through the typical bells and whistles to get to our gate. We arrived plenty early and got to see more of the resturants and shops inside the airport. Seeing so much Peking ducks and geese-- everywhere.

Soon our gate announced for boarding and we got on our plane to head towards Kameron's province. We arrived a couple hours later and were loaded on a bus (they pack people into these buses very tight) that took us to immgration. After the typical processing and baggage claim, we were met at the exit by the driver and our in country guide for our agency. She is fantastic and we can already tell that we are going to just love her! She gave us a quick schedule and procedures run down and we were taken to go to our hotel. 

Driving has been an interesting experience. It is very different then how we do it in the US. Very fast and efficient. The rules of the road also are very different here. We were amazed at how huge the city here is and it's full of lights and sounds! Everywhere we looked there were flashing lights! On the buildings, on the sides of the roads, etc. It really was an impressive sight to see!

We were also told that we would have access to plenty of shopping here, if we needed to get Kameron clothes, necessities, etc; That there would be something "like a Walmart" here. Well.. They weren't kidding. An actual (and we saw two) Walmart.

We slept as best we could. And like clockwork, we are wide awake at 4 am, China time. We will be getting breakfast soon and as the sun rises we plan to explore more of this beautiful city. In 8 hours we will meet in the lobby to be brought to meet Kameron for the very first time. There is much anticipation and a whole array of emotions we are feeling. Today, is a very big day!

Please continue your prayers for our family and, specifically for Kameron. As big of a life change as this will be for our family, it is an even bigger one for him. Today, he will have the love of a family. And that alone can be overwhelming. Good, but overwhelming.

And oh my, have we been blessed and felt your prayers! We have seen great transformations and felt great peace at moments when it was so desperately needed.

Touring Hong Kong

We started the day, after a good long 12 hours of sleep, with a late breakfast at a resturant in the airport called, Tsui Wah. Jesse had a croissant, scrambled eggs, beans and fried fish with coffee. I had fried eggs, a croissant, and macaroni noodle soup and coffee. Definitely a breakfast we aren't accustomed to, but definitely yummy!

We got the opportunity to explore Hong Kong with our friends who live here. Thank you to Daniel and Carmen as we had an incredible time with you yesterday! 

We started out by taking the MTR (fast train) to Kowloon and met them there.

Once we arrived, our friends took us to a local resturant that served dim sum and other local dishes. It was really tasty and a fun experience.

After that we explored more of The Kowloon side of the bay. We took a double decker bus to get to our next destination. However, we didnt get to stay on it for long. Our bus was side swipped by a taxi.Don't  worry, we didn't even feel it or even knew it had happened till we were instructed we had to get off the bus. Our friends instructed us to take pictures, because it is a very rare thing to see an accident in Hong Kong.

We walked for a bit and saw some prominent buildings in Hong Kong. Like the Peninsula Hotel and the clocktower:

And more double decker buses! These things are so neat!

Then, we took a ferry to the Central side of Hong Kong. Followed by a taxi up to get to experience the cable car up to "The Peak."

The view from the ferry was amazing. The ferries here are nothing like the one's we have experienced in Seattle. These are double deckers as well, and transport people only.

Then, we took the cable car up to The Peak:

Once we are up to the top, there were huge markets and a mall, as well as Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum. Those wax statues were crazy good and seriously impressive.

Then, we got to go to the viewing area of The Peak and see some rather impressive views of Hong Kong Island:

After we left The Peak, we took a double decker tram to Causeway Bay to have dinner. Hong Kong is the only place in the world that has these, and its one of their oldest forms of transportation. I didn't get a picture of ours, as it was dark. But here is what they look like:

Then, we had a delicious dinner of dim sum, jellyfish, spicy cucumber, green beans, sweet and sour soup, soy milk, and green tea at Din Tai Fung. Jesse and I are definitely fans of dim sum and the food here in Hong Kong was pretty great.

After dinner, we went to a mall that had some very unique finds. We picked up a few gifts for our boys at home, that we are really excited to give them. Our friends got us a unique soda they import from Japan that was delicious and fun. Jesse had to pop the marble at the top to drink it. Do you see that glass marble sitting in the jar? 

We had such a fun filled day. One, I'm certain we will not forget. Today, we are preparing our bags, repacking, and getting ready to check out of our hotel. Early this evening we will be flying in to Kameron's province and meeting our guide and settling into our hotel there.

Tomorrow is our Gotcha Day. And our youngest child's birthday (Happy Birthday, Noah!). We are feeling excitement, joy, and nervous about getting to meet Kameron for the very first time. Please be praying for his heart and ours as we first meet one another. Of all the adventures we have had these past few days, this one will certainly be our biggest. And I'm feeling butterflies in my stomach, just thinking about it.

Exploring some of Hong Kong

In the afternoon, a friend of ours who lives in Hong Kong came and met us at our hotel and we went for a light quick lunch at McDonald's. It was interesting to experience how familair things like Starbucks and McDonald's can vary so much. The menu options were fun and certainly options varied from what we can get in the US. We went with tried and true chicken nuggets (we were thinking of you, Eloise!).

After lunch, our friend helped us navigate the MTR (mass transit railway) and we explored Kowloon for a bit. We saw exquiste shopping centers, large business buildings, and even went to the ICC (one of the largest buildings in Hong Kong).

     

  

We were also tickled by the fact that a lot of the greenery near these big skyscrappers is none other than bamboo...

We got to explore some of the markets in Hong Kong as well. One, called 360, was oddly familair and almost a replica of a Whole Foods in the US. There were some differences though...

 The views of the city were breath taking. It was overcast and rainy, but still absolutely gorgeous. On our way to Kowloon, we saw lots of gorgeous rolling green hills. The city landscape was vast. Definitely larger than the big city landscape we are used to when we visit Seattle.

We are feeling much more settled in after getting to explore the city a bit with friends who have lived here for years. We plan to explore much more of it today.

We stayed in last night and enjoyed spicy ramen noodles (goodness, those were yummy!) and oolong tea. We are feeling a little bit better after a long sleep last night. Thank you for the continued prayers, well wishes and encouragement.

-- Sarah & Jesse

We have arrived in Hong Kong!!

After our 14 hour flight from San Francisco, we have landed safely in Hong Kong! It was later in the evening when we checked in. After a nights rest (but we both were unexplicably wide awake at 4 am on the dot-- jet lag), we eventually showered and ventured outside our hotel room to explore the Hong Kong Airport and our hotel further.

I think that the first after travel shower feels about as glorious as the first shower after a trip camping!

We found a buffet at our hotel and were amazed at all of our options. There were typical American things like espresso (yep, coffee is definitely not the same here as in the states), eggs, sausage, yoplait yogurt and cereal. But there were also some new things: rice, curry, naan bread, pho noodles with dumplings, japanese chicken, etc. There were lots of other things offered, that we didnt recognize.

We also found the airport here is huge. We couldn't believe how many airlines go through here. We also have never seen so many Taxi's before!

Taxi's at the Hong Kong International Airport

We walked around a bit, to get our bearings of where we are and what is around us. We found some comforting places (hello, Starbucks and McDonalds!) but the menus are a little bit different than what we are used to in the States:

The airport has some nice views. We didn't realize just how HUGE of a city Hong Kong truly is.

Jesse and I also seem to have caught the colds our boys had, so we are feeling a bit under the weather today. We plan to mostly lay low and get lots of rest today. Prayers that we would recover quickly are definitely needed and are appreciated.

So, here are a few things we have learned from our travels:

1) Bring a pen. We (for the first time ever) didn't have a pen on us. It must be blue or black ink (writing in red is a no-no). You will need this to fill out your customs slip on the plane to make getting through   immigration easier. We got a lot of odd looks not just at the airport, but restaurants for asking to borrow a pen. We have a pen with us whenever we leave now. 

2) Peanut butter, if you bring it-- must go in stowed baggage and not in your carry on. Even though it's  not what most think as a liquid, it's a TSA no-no. We lost our Jiffy PB in Boise this way. Oddly enough though, powdered peanut butter is just fine (I asked).

3) Personal space: Yea.. That space bubble we all love in the US.. Not a thing here. In fact, I lost Jesse more times than I can count and had people cut us in line if we left anything close to a foot in space between the person in front of us. There is also a lot of general pushing.. (Not shoving) but general jostling and herding in big groups to get any place.

4)  Be sure to exchange some (a small amount, like $100 or so) of money once you arrive. We were told that most of Hong Kong readily accepts US money. Which, many do.. But they have to convert it, then pay you back in Hong Kong dollars, and it's just.. Awkward. 

-- Also, HK money is different from whats used in Mainland China, which uses the Yuan. At this time, we are exchanging small amounts as we need them, as to avoid exchanging more $$ to the yuan, once we are in mainland China.

(Hey boys, we are saving some of these coins for you!)

We are experiencing a bit of culture shock as well. We did our research before travel, but reading about traveling somewhere and actually experiencing it are two things all together!  As our friend pointed out, this is giving us a glimpse of what Kameron will experience when he comes home to the US. The sounds, the smells, how people act/interact with one another, the language barrier, exchanging money, socially-- (knowing you have just done something not quite right, based on the faces of the other people and feeling frustrated because you have no idea what you just did), culturally, Etc.We have felt this heavily in the past 24 hours.

I keep whispering, "help them to forgive us, Lord. For we know not what we do...."

We will be trying to update this blog as much as we can and have access/the ability to. Thank you for your words of encouragement and prayers. Thank you to our friends who live in and/or have been to Hong Kong and have helped advise us. And thank you to Lifeline (our agency) for helping us every step of the way. Im not sure we would be on thus big adventure without all of you!

Love, 

Jesse & Sarah

Packing for China-- 3 more sleeps!!

Jesse and I have been in motion this week-- non-stop. We are tending to last minute shopping details, packing, prepping, loving on our boys, etc. Things are nicely being checked off our checklists. And we were finally feeling ahead.

Then, yesterday happened.  As Jesse was trimming some of our bushes, his wedding ring came off. He knew the exact location, but after 4+ hours of looking-- it still isn't found. We will be spending the daylight hours today trying to find it. A speed bump, we weren't planning on.

Also, our littlest has a slight cold. Thankfully, he has no fever and isn't down or out about it at all. He still is his happy and rambunctious self. The boys are thrilled for our trip to China and bringing Kameron home. But they need our time, love, and attention, right now-- more than ever.

Yesterday was just a hard day. We did a lot of housework and got a lot accomplished. Then the mail came. A letter from a last grant we were waiting on, notified us that, unfortunately-- we did not receive one of their grants.

Then a call from the vet's office-- "your Dog is due for a vaccination" BEFORE you leave in 3 days for China. And then the emissions testing for our state notifies us that we have to get our car tested-- and with our travel dates-- that also means BEFORE we leave for China.

Meanwhile, Sarah (me) is working up until we leave. So a lot of our readiness is dependent upon what we can accomplish this weekend.

There is still money to wire to China and all kinds of last minute errands and tasks we still need to accomplish. Are you feeling the gravity of our to do list? Because we most certainly are!

There have been moments of tears and frustration. Especially, yesterday. But there has been a lot of laughter and joy. Our situation feels ridiculous right now-- how can ALL of this be done in 72 hours? How to do we account for the last couple thousand for the adoption? It's simple math! But we also have faith that God will provide.

I was feeling overwhelmed with the financial reality of the adoption-- but we found out our matching grant paid out more than they had promised to meet. When we asked our adoption agency what they had received for us-- it was $1,000.00 more than we were anticipating. Praise the Lord!

So while things aren't perfect, nor what we had anticipated or expected, we are praising the Lord for all he has done and continues to do.

Your prayers, well wishes and encouragement are so appreciated. Thank you for coming alongside us throughout this journey.

And as we we countdown with our little one's at home--- CHINA!!! In 3 more sleeps!!!