Planes, Praise, and Prayers

It has been sort of a rough week since we returned from China. This will tell the story:



On Nov. 29, 2007, we made a trip to the U.S. Embassy in Guangzhou, China, to get the visa for Melissa that permits her to enter the United Sates as a U.S. citizen. She didn't sleep through the whole thing, but woke up when we went through security.












We had one last Chinese dinner with our whole group of eleven families. Lots of live food was displayed for people to choose from as we entered the door of the restaurant. These were silkworms, but there were also snakes and many other selections. We felt ready to go back home and have some American food.

Nov. 30, Kristina's birthday, which seemed to last forever, but didn't include cake and ice cream. She was a good sport about it.
The 12 hour plane ride back across the ocean was not as bad as you would think it might be with all those babies along. They slept better than the adults did. This picture was on the short ride to Denver from Los Angeles on Dec. 1st. Melissa was actually not feeling too well.

Meeting Grandma finally! A small group of friends met us at the airport. Praise God for a safe trip and for bringing our family together at last.

"Brother Daniel feels strong and seems like a pretty cool, fun guy."

"Brother Timothy is closer to my size and he is a very entertaining person."

Back at home, Melissa becomes the little princess and gets lots of attention. Problem is that she has a cold and is not sleeping well at night.

So many new experiences. Our dog, Chester is not sure what to do with this new little creature and she is not sure Chester is safe to be around. The snow is kind of fun.

On Dec. 4th, we attempted to celebrate Melissa and Kristina's birthdays, since John had to leave on a business trip on the 5th. Even Grandpa could not console Melissa, however, who had been throwing up with the flu.

Please keep us in your prayers, as this stomach flu has been going throuth the whole family, and Melissa is also now on antibiotics for ear infections. She has lost some weight and we are trying very hard just to keep her hydrated. We have been very blessed with help and meals from friends, and people here have been eager to welcome Melissa. We will try to post more of our adjustment when we are able to, during this busy holiday season. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Kristina's Thoughts on China

Hi! It's me, Kristina, again. I haven't been very good about writing on this since we got here like I was supposed to. Not doing very good at keeping up with my homework either... but I have been too busy helping with Melissa!(Good excuse, huh?) Hee hee. Any way, I have been learning alot: how to go to sleep with a baby crying, how to make a bottle just right for a picky eater, how to make Melissa laugh. She is really fun and, of course, I love her a whole bunch. It already seems like life wouldn't be as happy (or as loud) without her. It is awsome to have a sister! She smiles alot and babbles alot and loves to play with toys. (Daniel and Timothy, she really likes Blue-Bear and Tiger.) I think everyone at home will like her.

People here in China love babies. It makes me sad for them that they can only have 1 kid. Everywhere we go ladies crowd around her and touch her chubby cheeks and say (with limited english) how cute she is. Once some of our AAC group went to visit a elementary school. The kids were having some sort of track event and thousands of them were sitting in an open courtyard when we came in. Slowly kids turned and pointed at us. Some started getting up and coming over to us and all of them were practicing their English on us. "Hello! Hello, how are you! Where are you from?" Some even asked the adults how old they were. (They must just learn phrases like we do when we learn Spanish or something). And then our small group was enclosed on all sides by kids try ing to see the Americans. This time it wasn't the babies getting rock star treatment. Many places we go, if there are Chinese school children, its like that. They wear uniforms and stay in school until about 7:00 at night. Lots of them want to take pictures with us and some even get autographs. The kids are nicer, though, than some of the adults who just stare at you when you walk by.

Most of the toilets here are a squating kind, so that was new for me, and the crazy driving. These are only some of the many experiences we have had here.

Some things in China are pretty cheap. I just got a green iPod nano for less than 40 American dollars here. (in case any one is wondering, people use yuan here, and so you get about 7.3 or 7.4 of them for one dollor.) A five star hotel room was about 72 dollars a night. Other things are kind of expensive, like laundry service.

We went to a wild animal park and saw some cool animals like pandas. I, and some other people held a really playful white tiger baby. I was sick then (thankfully I'm better now) so it wasn't too fun for me, and Melissa didn't much pay attentiont to the animals, but I think alot of other people really enjoyed it.

We are busy packing for the loooong plane ride back to the US that we will start on tomorrow. My birthday will be on the plane, so one cool thing is my birthday actually lasts two days. (since we will cross the international date line) We will be home soon and I can't wait to not be in a cramped hotel room and have a some good old American cooking.

~Kristina~

New Place, New Bureaucracy

Here are all 11 babies on a couch, not getting along so well. Melissa is the one in the middle, being pushed by Olivia. The girl in the front with blue pants is Elizabeth, who is 19 months old. That is about how old we were thinking our baby might be before we got our referral.

Kristina with two of the Bristol kids. They are from the Western slope in Colorado. This was just before we climbed the 194 steps up a pagoda at the Six-Banyan-Tree Temple.
Some of the families in our group went inside and had their babies blessed by the priest.

Posing with our friend, Jacky, who helped to show us around up in Changsha. We were all feeling good then but now Kristina and John are both experiencing some tummy troubles.
Posing with our 2 daughters. We are missing our boys!

Yesterday we had a 2 hour long paperwork session, in which we went through a whole packet of papers that are required by the United States Immigration Service, filling the forms out one by one.

"I still have a runny nose and I'm beginning to be a little irritated with all these changes. I also have 6 teeth but I'm working on getting 2 more, so Mom and Dad have discovered that I don't ALWAYS sleep through the night."

Yue Yang and back to Changsha

Kristina on the shore of Dong Ting Lake, the second largest lake in China.
































A tiny infant in the Yue Yang orphanage. This was a bright, well-run orphanage that two of the girls in our group came from. There are not as many babies needing adoption as there used to be, but still lots of older or disabled children.
Here's Melissa, getting ready for an outing back in Changsha. She is showing us a wonderfully cheerful, interactive personality. She does have a few little issues that concern us, such as head banging in her crib, her flattened head on one side, and her low weight (16 and a half lbs. at 11 months). Her legs and trunk muscles are weak. We can't erase the first months of her life, but we sure do love her already. We think she will make great progress with us. She is already learning to chew soft food and how to crawl.


Melissa loves her two big brothers! She has been seeing pictures of them.


Three beautiful older children at the Yue Yang orphanage. Kids such as these are catergorized as "special needs" for various reasons. The girl on the left is in this category simply because she was abandoned very recently, as an older child. The cutie in the middle can't walk.



The Hunanese are very proud of their silk embroidery, and rightfully so. In this workshop Changsha, these ladies are working together on an embroidered silk picture duplicating the picture of Chairman Mau in the background. It will take them years to complete it.


Today Kristina tasted a fried Chicken head. Yum yum!! Yesterday, on Thanksgiving, we took a taxi to McDonald's for a hamburger feast. Not quite the same but at least American, and we have lots to thank God for. We pray that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving time too.

Contrast in accomodations

Deluxe accomodations for adopting parents: Our Hotel in Changsha.









The streets and sidewalks can be dangerous places. On our way out of town this morning, this little crash occured right in front of our bus.
Crowded accomodations in the orphanage that Melissa spent her first 11 months. However, there used to be 80 children in this building and today there were only 15 of them.
Melissa did not express excitement about being back at her orphanage.
Orphanage building, called Xiang Yin Social Welfare Institute, because they also care for elderly and disabled people here.












This is where they found Melissa, early in the morning of December 6, 2007. It is a well-known high school.





Kristina eating a fried chicken claw!

Having a nice cry before bed. It has been an emotional day for all of us.

Video!

More pictures, from Tuesday November 20

Today was a free day, for the babies and families to get to know each other. All of these shots were taken in the hotel room today. She sure is a fun little gal. We heard her cry for the first time today.

Turns out most of the clothes we brought are too big for her. She fits in 6-9 month clothes even though she's almost a year old. She's in size 1-2 shoes.

We'll be away for the next two days and one night as we visit the three orphanages that the babies came from, and seeing the sites where each baby was found. For Melissa it was in front of a junior high school.