Boarding at hong kong!

We are off!
So grateful for all of you. For the firm and steady hand of the lord on our family. For the end of a beautiful journey.
We look to the hills
Psalm 121

Amen and amen
Sent from my iPhone

Goodbye from China

We are headed to the train station in two hours!  This is the last post from mainland China.  I'm not sure if we'll post tonight form Hong Kong or not.  

Our plane departs on Friday morning at 8:05.  We fly through Tokyo and into Seattle.  In Seattle we go through immigration and customs with Emmacakes and she officially is a citizen of the United States of America!  Yahooooooo!  

After Seattle it is homeward to Minneapolis.  We land at 4:30, flying on Delta.  

We can't wait to see those of you who are able to meet us there!  can.not.wait!

"Homeward bound, I wish I were, Homeward bound" - S&G

"Country roads, take me home, to the place (we) blong!" - J Denver

"Always there, someone you can count on to comfort you.  Always there, like a green, green valley, you can come home too"  - Little Foot, Land Before Time (from Jeb)

and finally, George Strait's best, which we LOVE:

RUN

If there's a plane or a bus leaving dallas

I hope you're on it

If there's a train moving fast down the tracks

I hope you caught it

Cause I swear out there ain't where you ought to be

So catch a ride, catch a cab

Don't you know I miss you bad

But don't you walk to me

Baby run, cut a path across the blue skies

Straight in a straight line

You can't get here fast enough

Find a truck and fire it up

Lean on the gas and off the clutch

Leave dallas in the dust

I need you in a rush

So baby run

If you ain't got a suit case

Get a box or an old brown paper sack

And pack it light or pack it heavy

Take a truck, take a chevy

Baby just come back

There's a shortcut to the highway out of town

Why don't you take it

Don't let that speed limit slow you down

Go on and break it

Baby run, cut a path across the blue skies

Straight in a straight line

You can't get here fast enough

Find a truck and fire it up

Lean on the gas and off the clutch

Leave dallas in the dust

I need you in a rush

So baby run

Baby run

Oh baby run

Baby run 

last night in China

well, mainland China that is.

We spent a beautiful morning at the Chen Family Memorial Hall.  It is also called the Guagnzhou Arts and Crafts Museum.  Housed in what was the living compounds of the Chen family clan, a powerful, rich and influential family group before the Cultural Revolution, the Chen Family home has been turned into a museum.  We were treated to displays of some of China's most famous artwork: embroidery, ivory carvings, jade, watercolor, calligraphy.  The art was beautiful and the surroundings were magnificent.  It was one of the more peaceful (and orderly) mornings we have spent.  We all enjoyed it immensely.  Definitely a "must see and do" for anyone traveling here.

Our afternoon was spent wandering the island.  We ate lunch at Lucy's, which is a western style restaurant.  We chose it because of its al fresco dining.  It was relaxed and a lovely day to sit outside in the sheltered courtyard and enjoy lunch together.  We shopped a bit, and ended up praying with Jordon in the hallway of his shop area.  It was a treat to meet with him and he was so excited to share the common bond of brother and sisterhood in faith.  Jim called him, "brother" at the end of our short time, and my eyes welled with tears.  

There is another woman who keeps a shop that shared that she is Baptist and is a member of one of the churches on the island.  My understanding, from the reading I have done, is that there still is a vast difference between the house (underground) churches and the state-approved churches in China, especially in terms of some of the theology the underground teaches profess that the state churches agree not to teach.  A wonderful read about the beginning of the house church movement in China is, "Heavenly Man".  It is a beautiful account and very inspirational.  

Once again we dined at the Thai restaurant "Cow Bridge", and it was divine.  This was after Emma kept escaping the room to try to run away from me into the hotel hallway.  Jim and the boys were not here, and our connecting rooms were opened.  She kept darting from one room to the other to go look for them in the hallway.  Despite my use of the translator to explain what they were doing, that they would be back and etc...she didn't really care to be all alone with me.  Ugh.  One of the women we know from our travel group "happened to be walking down the hall", which I call a divine appointment where the Lord stationed her in that hallway on Emma's behalf.  I was unnerved and rather frazzled by the time we finally met up with Jim and the boys.  So while dinner was great tasting, I was working on steadying my heartbeat and resisting beginning a countdown to liftoff to Hong Kong.  

We are longing for home.

Is it mean if I declare that I am done?  Ready?  Finished?  

I think it is indicative that the trip is drawing to a close.  The reality that I can even entertain the idea of being home and being done here allows the "feeling" of being done to surface in a new way.  I am done.  There, I wrote it.  It's official and a statement.  Tomorrow we leave, and that is a good thing.  Thanks be to God who wathes our going out and our returning home.

Next up tonight is a bath for Emma and getting her very overly tired self to bed.  Getting my overly tired self to bed is next on the list.  Jim and the boys are cooking up "magnum bars", which a akin to a Dove bar, and the movie Bourne Identity in the boys room.  I think I need to rally to join them for this last night before travel.  Pray for me! :)

So tomorrow afternoon begins the long sojourn home.  We yearn to be there and to see everyone.  We long to worship with Emma at church and declare the faithful hand of the Lord to the heavens.  Our hearts are full and our arms finally are, too.  It has been a beautiful and momentous trip.  Emmacakes is the fulfillment of every single promise the Lord made to Jim and to me all those months ago when we prayed with both fear and trepidation, joy and anticipation at a call that made no sense to us, and yet one that made us stop in wonderment and love.  God is sooooo good.  Never would we have conceived that we would return to China again to adopt.  Never would we have thought we would be blessed to parent five children.

As Emmacakes and I colored today, we were listening to the playlist of songs that the Lord sang over my heart all those months of waiting.  My tears flowed freely (and in secret from Emma) while I praised my God who has brought everything to pass as He said He would.  And my heart was truly rent with joy and gratitude, awe and overwhelmed love at his mercy and grace for my family.  The lyrics from the song, Jamie's song, by Kristene Mueller, were particularly sweet this day, and so I leave you tonight with her song.  Today our hearts sang it for our Emma, found and safe- with us and in Him.  She is His sparkle, and through Jim she will learn about the love a father has for a daughter, and how much more her Heavenly Father for her.  I testify before you what my eyes have seen these last weeks.  She is a sparkle.

 

She's a sparkle in her Father's eye,

Kind of like the moon tonight.

She's destined for divinity,

Her portion is His purity

And a glance His way comes across her face.

 

He sheds a tear, oh, oh,

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,

Amazing love,

Oh, she's been found.

 

A sparkle in her Father's Crown.

 

Holy love come raining down,

Come storming in, be jealous found.

Come violent love,

Come stormy sea,

Sweep fear away and joy shall be.

 

And even if He had ninety nine

That stayed at home and stayed in line,

He would not be satisfied.

He would still go out to find

The one who's always on His mind

And bring her back, arms opened wide.

 

He sheds a tear, oh, oh,

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,

Amazing love,

Oh, she's been found.

 

Holy love come raining down,

Come storming in, be jealous found.

Come violent love,

Come stormy sea,

Sweep fear away and joy shall be.

 

Holy love come raining down,

Come storming in, be jealous found.

Come violent love,

Come stormy sea,

Sweep fear away and joy shall be,

Sweep fear away and joy shall be.

 

She's a sparkle in her Father's eye,

Kind of like the moon tonight.

oops..that was for Achterkirchs, not the blog!

That's what you get when you write a thing down with only 2 sips of coffee in your body! :)

The weather report was meant for our friends who leave to bring home their son David next week!  I think they have shorts packed for Guangzhou, and yesterday Emma was in a fleece coat that one of the shopkeepers loaned her...

Guangzhou has been COLD

yesterday and today...just fyi.  We were all in jeans and sweaters yesterday!!!  And today it is windy and chilly out, too.

Consulate Appointment, Cow Bridge and close to home

We are back on Shamian island at the Victory.  After our plush accommodations in Foshan, we are grateful for our respite there!  It is also good to have these last days on the island.

Much of today was taken up by our Consulate Appointment.  We swore that all of the information we presented to the government regarding our request to make Emma Katherine YuXiao Silburn a citizen of the United States of America was true and correct.  We also watched as numerous other families took the oath with us.  It is always a moving sight to behold.  

We learned that last year there were only 3,000 US adoptions from China.  We were quite shocked by this number as in 2005 when we were here to bring Anna Elaine home the number was 7,000.  That is a FOUR THOUSAND difference, and I have to think reflects in large part the governments slow down of non-special needs adoptions (as if being an orphan wasn't a special need itself).  What a tragedy for all the children languishing in orphanages here.  

That said, there are thousands of children available on the special needs list, and their adoptions are expedited and moved along much more quickly.  Ours took ten months start to finish.  That is not long (even if it felt so at times!).  People do NOT need to wait five to eight years to fold a child into their families, if they are beginning the adoption process now.  And Jim and I are MORE than happy to speak with any of you about our process and what we know of the process, if you would ever consider blessing your family with a child through adoption from China.  We'd encourage you to adopt from any country, including the United States, we just are most familiar with China's processes as we have adopted from here twice.  

No we just await processing of Emma's visa and on Thursday while we wait at the train station to go to Hing Kong, Michael our guide will pick it up at the consulate and rush it over to us so we can leave for home!

HOME!  We all cannot wait to get there....even Emma Kate who has no idea she is going there.  She is ready for it.

We had a lovely celebration dinner at a wonderful Thai restaurant "Cow Bridge".  It was so delicious, and if I could have picked up that dish of red curry and drank it right at the table I would have!  We all unanimously agreed we are eating our last meal on mainland China there tomorrow night.  Yum!  I'm already excited about it.

There was a little bit of shopping today, although Jeb is still back and forth on his kite purchase.  I thought I had the boys talked into buying dried spicy squid to bring to their friends at the lunch table...I think I am funnier than they do.  No one bought any!  I think I may take matters into my own hands tomorrow, knowing that once they are home they will long for proof of their adventures here.  Maybe I just need to do that all around...Hmm.

Now we are back at the Victory.  Cooper and Jeb are playing games on their ipods, which is another way of saying they are checking out.  They have been real troopers on a trip where there is a lot of boring time, and appointment time to fill.  I know as much as their are parts of the trip that were amazing for them, it was also a dose of how hard international travel can be, and also what adding a child to your family in a foreign country is like.  They win endurance medals.  They've also endured Jim and myself, usually at separate times.  There have been moments when we all would love to not be together, and they pass.  It's all normal.  We've lived in extremely close quarters with no breaks from one another for almost three weeks now.  I think we all have done splendidly.  Especially me.  Just kidding on that self-award.  

Emma has now unpacked her backpack ALL OVER the floor of the room.  I think it is soothing to her to remember all her "stuff".  It's quite cute.  I attempted to put her jammies on a bit ago and she was firm that it wasn't time yet.  Sounds good, girl!  But soon, Momma will prevail.  Soon, as in two minutes soon.  I'll let her choose what she wants on first, the tops or the bottoms, but that's as much of a "choice" as she's getting.  She's really tired, and to bed is going to be a good thing.  

Tomorrow we are going to tour the "People's House".  I believe it is a place where many artists display and showcase their art: embroidery, watercolor, etc.  I think that artisans are actually creating their art there, too.  Some people in our travel group said they went and it was wonderful.  That is in the morning, and in the afternoon the boys are going over to the electronics market.  We need to figure out the code they should look for on the video game boxes to indicate they will work in the US.  

Then the Cow Bridge for dinner, a movie in the room perhaps and bedtime!  Oh, and lots of packing!

Thursday morning we have free, and we leave at 2pm on Thursday for the train station for Hongkong!  We are down to 2 sleeps to travel! Three sleeps to home!!!!  Yay!

I can't wait to touch the ground in Seattle.  I might kiss it in Minneapolis.  And then kiss all of you!  We can't wait to see you!  

Love from Shamian island! 

Good night on Tuesday night, with our almost-citizen Emmacakes

hide and seek and the Chinese ninja

We whiled away the day playing hide and seek (hotel style) this afternoon.  It was fun and funny.  I'm sure the other residents were wondering about the shrieks of laughter spilling from our doorway and through the walls.  

At one point I was "it" and Jim hid in a lame spot so I found him right away.  Emma followed whoever was "it" around to find the others, so she was following me.  When I came upon Jim I swatted him in the arm, to laughingly "say" that his choice of locales was pathetic.  Emma walked right up to him and rubbed his arm and kissed it.  So sweet and endearing.  The next thing she did?  Kicked me in the shin!  

Straight up defending her father.  Bringing it, ninja style!  

We've had a nice quiet last day off island.  Dinner was noodles for the kids and Jim and I are detoxing from our carbohydrate intake with a vanilla yogurt and fruit meal.  We need about a week or three of those.  My kingdom for a salad.  The boys kingdoms for Chipotle!

We return tomorrow morning and have our American Consulate Appointment in the afternoon.  We'll celebrate tomorrow night with a dinner we've been waiting for...but I'll leave the details until later. :)  

Have a good Monday in America!  We are off to bed as you rise.  

Good night from China!

Chris' story, 2-child families and God's heart for His orphans

Jim went to get Emma's TB test read this morning.  It was a long car ride with our guide, Michael.  Jim went, because Emma is most comfortable with him right now, and vaguely panics when he isn't around.  If he leaves the room and I"m here with her we tell her, "Daddy nau nau"...which basically means Daddy is going to the bathroom.  Daddy has spent a lot of time "nau nau".  Emma must think he drinks too much water.  Daddy leaving is one thing, but Emma and Mommy leaving another altogether.  So, I waited here with Cooper and Jeb, who did their homework.  I read a book.  Can't complain about my morning, I was just missing my Emmacakes.

A few days ago we learned a bit about Michael's father, Chris.  Chris was our guide in Emma's province.  Another family with our adoption agency mentioned that Chris grew up in an orphanage.  Jim and Michael talked about Chris' story on the car ride, and I want to record it here to remember.

Chris' parents were killed in the Cultural Revolution.  Chris was about 9 years old, and had two younger sisters who were 6 and 8 (about).  The government sent them all to live in an orphanage.  He was never adopted and completed his "growing up" there.   At some point the government sent him to university, as "reparation".  I'm not sure if the reparation was for killing his parents, sending him to an orphanage, or some combination of that.  But Chris received a university degree.  At some point he began to teach English, and had his students volunteering in the orphanages.  This all happened before international adoption opened up in China.  When China began to allow foreigners to adopt, Chris was uniquely positioned to help children get to their families.  He spoke English well, and had a huge heart for the orphan.  He still does.  

His son Michael told Jim this information in a fairly dispassionate narrative voice.  It was like a factual account, and he didn't say how he or how they feel about this.  We feel privileged to know this part of Chris' story.  

I asked Michael about all of the families we saw at the grocery store and shopping mall the other day with two children.  He told us that if both parents in a marriage are only children, they may have two children as a family.  In other words, if an only child marries and only child, they may have a child for each of them, thus equaling a family with two children.   

When asked what the rule is for those children, he said the hope and belief is that by the time this generation grows up, the One Child Law will no longer be in effect.  

We have felt that we were called to do something during a window of time.  The Lord has saved a remnant of children from China's orphanages.  Each year from the US about 7,000 children are adopted (at least that is the number I have read...it may be different now).  If there are over 3 million children living in orphanages in China, that number represents a remnant.  

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  James 1:27

I remember one time someone wondered out loud why so many families from America with all boys keep going over to China to get "their girl".  Our reason for adoption was never to "get a daughter".  We adopted because it was a call on our family.  That comment was meant scornfully, and yet I saw something so beautiful in it.  I didn't say this then, but will write now:

God gave us all boys, and we welcome with joy the blessing of a girl/s.  What if His hand is in it, not our human need for something more?  What if our boys helped us hear his call in some way that we would not have otherwise?  When something is meant for evil (like scores of parents abandoning their children either by force or choice to orphanages), the Lord is the KING of turning the screws and making something entirely beautiful and different out of the tragedy.  God brought home girls to scores of families.  Some of them like ours, families with sons.  And those girls became the treasured pearls of those families.  Those cast off, brought home as beloved and precious daughters.  The least of those who become something entirely different.

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18

John isn't speaking of adoption of actual orphans living in orphanages, he is speaking of us.  People living like orphans away from their family: their Heavenly Father.  The act of adoption is a beautiful and incredible picture of exactly what God does for us.  He adopts us through Jesus.  We, who were once far off and truly orphaned, are brought home to Him and in Him.  We live in His presence as His sons and daughters.  Blessed children of the king.

I look at my Emma and my Anna, and I see myself.  

I look at my sons, and see God's providential hand on our family.  

He intended for us ALL to belong together from BEFORE the very foundation of the world was laid.

Jesus was always meant to be the way back to the Lord.

Adoption was ordained as part of God's magnificent provision for our daughters, and for us, to experience together.  The adoption of our beloved daughters, and the adoption of our very selves into the family of God.

Psalm 68:4-6

Sing to God, sing praise to his name, 
       extol him who rides on the clouds ^[a]—
       his name is the LORD—
       and rejoice before him.

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, 
       is God in his holy dwelling.

God sets the lonely in families, ^[b] 
       he leads forth the prisoners with singing; 

Blessed be the name of the Lord. It wasn't just Anna and Emma who were lonely...we were.  Our hearts were not complete, even if we thought they were, until they were home with us, and we were home with them.  The call goes BOTH WAYS.

Soli deo gloria,

Sara

english is very confusing

Jim went to the front desk to ask them to please remove the crib from our room.  Our little girl is too big for it.  He asked for a roll-away.  A cot.  An extra bed.  (And really, he will probably end up sleeping there, not Emma.  Last night he ended up on the couch after her cute little feet were planted in his back for hours on end)

They seemed to understand.

We left for a walk around the lake and returned to our room.  

There was an extra bed in our room...it was Jeb's bed from the boys room!  And the crib.  Still in place.  

We were rolling in laughter.  I wonder WHAT in the world they thought/think of us.  Can you even imagine how odd they must have thought that request was?

Cooper was quite excited to have the room to himself.

It is all sorted out now, thanks to a call to our guide, Michael, who called the front desk to explain what in the world the crazy Americans were trying to say!

Ni hao from China.  

JIm goes tomorrow morning to get the TB test read with Emmacakes.  It will be be negative.  You can hardly even see where the little prick was on her skin!  Good news.  

Today was slow (and boring, which all in all I suppose is good).  We made up games in the room and gave away prizes (extra roll of TP, hotel slippers, bag of m&ms, five yuan notes).  Jeb is now at the supermarket with Jim spending his yuan on Poki sticks...we are ordering room service (hope they understood our order!) and the boys went to procure cheap drinks and desserts.  Room dinner, an 8pm bedtime for Emma, and hopefully a movie night for us.  

xoxoxo

us

who are ready to come home (did I already say that?)

Miss afraid of her swimsuit

Has quickly become foshan's bathing beauty! As long as she is in daddy's arms. Smart and brave girl!

Pictures from jim

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i'll have the reuben please

Our little Chinese girl is going German on us.  She completely passed on her noodle dish at dinner.  Pushed the entire thing my way...and dug in with glee and abandon to the reuben.  Dripping melted cheese, sauerkraut, rye bread, pastrami and all.  

You can see proof of her diversifying culinary tastes in our photo section.  

We have decided coming home will not be a problem for her.  She wouldn't touch the congee after the first day.  

Good thing we have an awesome Chinese grocery a block away from us at home.  We can still encourage the tastes of her homeland, even if she ends  up prefering the flavors of...Germany????

Good night from Foshan, where our darling girl has not suffered so much as a whisper of fever today.  We are in awe and so grateful for God's protection of her.

Onward!

plush accomodations

here in Foshan.   We moved out to a suburb of Guangzhou this afternoon.  We are joking that it is like we are staying in Eden Prairie.  Our hotel is beautiful; we are in a corner room that is a living area, guest bathroom, a bedroom, huge bathroom, and a dressing area.  The boys are in an adjoining room, and they are quite excited and pleased with their living "conditions".  To say we have been upgraded in an understatement.  However, with the trade fair on the price is actually the same as if we were currently staying at the Victory.  Their rates this week skyrocketed.  We are quite pleased to be enshrined in Foshan.

There is a small little manmade lake across the street with walkways, pavilions and playareas.  Tomorrow we will explore there.  There is also a huge and quite fancy mall across the other side of the street.  It does have a KFC (gross!) that we ate lunch at.  The boys (that includes Jim) were pleased with their greasy chicken.  I nibbled.  Afterward we strolled the mall.  It is filled with high end stores, and is huge.  Very different from our Beijing shopping extravaganza where I felt like we were in a TJ Maxx gone maxxed flea market style.  There is a very nice market on the main floor, and it felt a bit like shopping at Lund's or Byerly's versus Cub Foods, if that gives you an idea of the difference in where we've been shopping to where we just shopped.  I was surprised to see many families with multiple children.  There were numerous parents with two children.  I'm not sure what to make of this, but it is certainly a different slice of China than we have seen thus far.  

Emma is now taking a bit of a nap.  We are trying to emphasize the "bit" so she isn't up until 10pm.  The boys all went down to play in the pool.  It is gorgeous.  I'm enjoying the quiet moment.  It is a luxury to be able to go to another room and type and have a coffee and not wake her up!  

She has thus far tolerated her shots well. No fever at naptime (at 4pm...late, I know).  We did learn at the appt that our little girl is really quite proficient at cheating on the eye exam!  She had the whole room smiling indulgently as she kept shifting the little eye cover over to one side.  Needless to say, we will be visiting the optometrist for some adorable glasses once we are home.  One of her eyes has terrible vision!  Jim announced that she gets that from his side of the family, causing our guide to look askance until he realized Jim was joking (sort of).  She is "our side" of the family.  She will be the cutest little thing with her beautiful brown eyes peeking out from spectacles.  Good thing we know she likes glasses...it took us days to get those sunglasses off of her!  Maybe we should encourage their return!  JennJenn, KTG: they have polka dots!

She is such a trooper, and is blossoming more and more each day.  She has such a sparkle in her eyes, and we are astounded at both her resilience and the joi de vivre with which she greets each day.  She is affectionate, and also knows well when she isn't interested in giving affection.  Those are such healthy boundaries to have.  She is not indiscriminately affectionate or familiar with strangers, and for that I am so grateful.  It speaks volumes about our journey to becoming a family together.  I think she has had consistent caregivers and is able to recognize the idea of a family unit.  She loves it when we say, "Mama, Baba, Emma, Cooper, Jeb" and make the sign language sign for family.  

Arriving in Guangzhou has given us all a fresh breath of life.  Our time in her province was important, and good.  It was also hard and we are glad it is now behind us.  And behind her.  I feel like there is so much to still process, and hope we take the time to do that.  For her sake as well as ours.

Please join us in praying for the three (we saw two) boys at Emma's orphanage who are on the shared list.  We may have some incredible news to share soon.  

One big day done.  Seven sleeps to home.  

We can't wait to see you all!

We arrive on Friday, October 29th at 4:30m.  Delta flight.  You are welcome to come meet our family of seven!  We would really love to see people, before we whisk Emma off to nest at home for a bit.  Jim keeps looking at me and saying, "Honey, we have five children".  I just laugh.  In a really good way.  Five.  I can do this...

Love from Foshan/Guangzhou!

xoxo

4 shots and a Starbucks

We made it! M & ms go a long way for Emma. Latte makes it all ok for momma and daddy.

Guangzhou!

We are here.  Thank goodness!  It is so great to be here.  Our plane was delayed, and we arrived late last night.  We actually got to stay at the Victory last night, and it is WONDERFUL.  I don't know which one we are in, but I wish we could just stay here!  Jim and the boys made a beeline for the 7-11 while Emma and I got ready for bed.  We all quickly fell into sleep...by 12:30am.  

Today is a big day.  We have our medical exam this morning at 10am.  Our guide told us to be prepared for many shots.  He asked us to bring her vaccination record (which is complete, by the way) and he said he will fight to have some eliminated (as in, she wouldn't need to get them today)  

After the exam we go out to our hotel in Foshan (sad little tear falls down my cheek- ha ha).  I'm sure it is a great hotel.  We have the boys primed for the beautiful ppool and sauna.  Maybe tomorrow EMmacakes will be up for her first swim???

Today we area betting I am ministering MOmmy love to her in our hotel room with tylenol, motrin and cool washcloths.  

Love from Guangzhou,

Silburns

last hours in Fuzhou

We leave for the airport in two hours!  It is a momentous day to depart Emma's province and move on to Guangzhou.  A huge change for her, and a giant step toward home for all of us.  We fly from Fuzhou to Guangzhou, Guangdong province in the far south of China.  All Americans adopting Chinese children complete their adoptions here as this is where the American embassy is located and where our consulate appointment takes place.  

The business side of Guangzhou involves a medical appointment tomorrow.  It is a fairly cursory medical exam.  For our family it has a significant difference from when we adopted Anna in 2005.  There are new Hague guidelines in effect that make it mandatory for children to receive new immunizations before returning home to the states.  I'm not sure why some children receive 4 and some 7, but the net effect is that these poor kiddos are subject to up to 9 immunizations AT ONCE.  It is a terrible piece of the Hague legislation, that I have no doubt will be repealed soon.  All these kids get reimmunized upon their arrival home by their pediatricians, and it is done on a staggered schedule so there isn't the high risk that comes with multiple immunizations at once.  We would very much appreciate your prayers for Emma tomorrow: for the Lord to protect her, to minimize the side effects of the immunizations, that any harm would be thwarted and that she would be able to turn to us for comfort and safety.  I feel sick just thinking about it.

After the medical exam, we have to also wait 48 hours for a TB test to be read.  If it is negative (on Monday) we are good to go.  If it is not, I believe there is a course of action, and it involves an extra 2 weeks in province for medicine or something.  We are praying for a negative TB test!  I have not heard of anyone who had a positive one.

On Tuesday we have our Consulate Appointment where the final pieces of EMma's US paperwork are completed and we take oaths on her behalf for citizenship!  Then on Thursday we pick up her passport and Visa and head home via Hong Kong!  There is a very short night's sleep in Hong Kong and we fly out for home on Friday morning...arriving Friday afternoon. :)  Weird.

While we are in Guangzhou we were supposed to stay on (Shamian) island at the Victory Hotel.  The Chinese government commandered our hotel rooms last week, as only the Chinese government can.  In a communist country things happen much differently than in the US.  Our agency made arrangements for us to stay in Foshan (which on the map seems to be a sort of suburb of Guangzhou?) at the Intercontinental Hotel.  It was just built in the spring of 2010, so we hope it is completed and we can enjoy a brand new hotel!  We are gulping at the cost difference, but there isn't really anything we can do about it.  Merry Christmas. :)  We stay in Foshan from Friday through Tuesday morning, and believe we move to the Victory on Tuesday morning.  So we will at least have a dayand a half on island.  

Shamian island is a fun place to be, as it is easy to roam a bit, there is a great park to play at and the little shops cater to adoptive families.  Jim and the boys are very excited for the 7-11 and a slurpee.  I am, as pathetic as this is to admit, giddy for a Starbucks.  Can't wait for a nonfat vanilla latte.  

One week and we are heading home.  Our time is both going by in a blur and at the same time crawling along.  I think we are all ready for Guangzhou. 

Anna and Luke seem to be doing famously at home.  My parents will be awarded sainthood upon our arrival home and we will need to send them on an extended tropical vacation.  Rochester is south of us, does that count as tropical?  Ha!  It is MEA weekend at home, which means the kids are off of school for Thursday and Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Gogo and Pa took them to ROchester for a few days, and then they are back to the cities for fun with friends.  We have been so blessed by dear friends who are loving on Luke and Anna in many ways while we are gone.  Than you to each of you!  You have our gratitude and heartfelt love!  

This morning consisted of packing and Cooper worked on his homework documentary.  Jim, Jeb, Emmacakes and I headed out for a last walk around part of West Lake.  It is a cooler day, overcast and quiet feeling.  A good day for a peaceful adieu to Fujian.  

SEVEN SLEEPS TO HOME!

Love from Fujian,

Sara

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Orphanage visit and finding place

Yesterday morning we left to take the bullet train south to Jinjiang, where Emma has lived for the past five and a half years in Jinjiang's Social Welfare Institute.  It is an orphanage, and according to our guide and the orphanage officials we met, it is the oldest orphanage in China (not the physical structure, which was built in 2008, but the institution itself).  

We were questioning whether or not to go, as Emma had such a hard time after seeing Miss Susie the day before.  After much discussion, prayer, consulting of Christine on Skype and mulling, we decided the long-term gains were worth the trip, and perhaps even any immediate pain the Lord would use to Emma's good in terms of understanding and more closure.  I don't know if there was truly a right or wrong choice, we just used our best discernment and prayed God's grace over our choice and that He insulate and protect Emma from any harm.  Right or wrong, I can't say.  The day felt right, though, and Emmacakes did very well.  She is incredibly brave and courageous.  Perhaps she would have been Joshua or Caleb in the story of the 12 spies.  Certainly she has seen giants in the land in her life, and she has chosen to keep walking forward with a strength and endurance and hope that astounds and humbles us.  She is beautiful: inside and out.

At breakfast we ended up seeing Miss Susie again.  The team for the cleft repair trip is staying here also, and she was there for breakfast.  It was a wonderful encounter, and we all felt that it was much less traumatic for Emma Kate this time.  Perhaps even more closure?  I was able to give her a gift form our family, which I'm so grateful I could do.  It is a pendant necklace that our dear friend, Mimi, made for our trip.  It is a 1.5 inch wood disc with red Chinese paper inscribed in beautiful calligraphy with the word (in Chinese) "Love".  I was wearing mine, so I hope when she opened it she knew it was special to me, too.  A very small token of our regard and appreciation and deep gratitude and love for Miss Susie.

At 8:20 we took a cab to the train station, and then a train to Emma's birth city.  Our guide explained what was happening, that we would visit her friends and orphanage family and then return to the hotel all together as a family.  She seemed calm and indicated that she understood.  (Okay, side note here: honestly, can you even believe what this sweet child is processing and going through?).  The train took an hour and traveled at 200 miles (or km??)  an hour.  We were in a private berth and had just a great time together playing, laughing and connecting.  It was very relaxing.  YuXiao loved it.  So did her brothers and her parents!

A van picked us up at the train station and drove us to the orphanage.  We recognized it from the main road before it did a loop back on the city streets and we were pointing it out to Emmacakes.  She leaped from the van upon our arrival, and led us with obvious joy and glee into the doors, and then she galloped full speed like a little spring colt down the hallway into a green door.  We were laughing at her exuberance.  Jeb remarked, "I didn't know she could even run!".

We were able to see the rooms she lived in: her sleeping room with the little wooden beds lined up in the middle.  They are toddler sized and each has a single fleece blanket.  The kids sleep on the wood.  I'm sure it would be impossible to keep mattresses clean, and yet it made me so sad to think of her all these years on that hard wood.  No pillows.  Again, how in the world would they keep them all clean?  There is a bathroom/bathing area in the middle and then what seemed to be the classroom, playroom/main room area where the kids spend most of their time, I think?  It was just after lunch and right before naptime, so we saw them in a transition time.  They were all honestly adorable, and it was just so incredible to finally meet all these adorable faces I've looked at all these months in photos, wondering what they were like.  They are Emmacakes classmates and orphanage "siblings" and they are beautiful.  It broke my heart that they are still there waiting.  Each one of those sweethearts is so deserving of a family and a true home.  So able to become a treasured son or daughter.  

As i posted earlier, we were able to get incredible video of two of the boys whose files are woefully out of date and are on the shared list right now.  They are both incredibly sweet little boys.  Walking, climbing, steady on their feet, nimble, agile, able.  Completely mobile, not a single hesitation from either of them.  I don't know what their special need is, besides the need of being an orphan, but it is totally not discernable to the eye.  They were giggly and funny, and also calm and you could see them taking it all in, stepping back a bit and processing what they were seeing and experiencing.  

Emma was so excited to be there and see everyone.  She was equally happy to see her friends and her nannies.  It was so special to be there with her and put context to all these pictures we've seen these past 9 months.  

We showed the guide the names of our sponsored children, and were able to meet three of them.  That was really special.  I wish there wasn't a language barrier as there was so much I wanted to say to them.  Beautiful children of the King.  Children who matter and belong to the One.  Princesses and knights.  Sons and Daughters of the Lord of Lords.  My heart hurts just typing about them.

From there we went to the rooms where the babies are.  I don't think I have words yet to write about it.  I prayed out loud over each of the babes.  One room housed what seemed to be healthier babies, another babies with more obvious special needs.  They all were just laying in their cribs, some sleeping , some rocking themselves or doing repetitive movements to stimulate and calm themselves.  I could have fallen down crying.  It is so wrong that our world does this to babies.  And these little ones are lovingly cared for, we believe.  But it is orphanage care.  It is so not what they need or deserve.  One little boy was having small seizures.  I asked the Lord to go to a spare room in heaven and get him a new brain and bring it right then as I laid hands on him.  He would make eye contact and then you could see his dear little eyes go sort of blank and his hands would twitch and his body move.  It broke my heart.  It really did.  Knowing what we know about seizures and having experienced them this year as a family with our beloved Luke, I just can't stand it that there isn't more help for this little boy.  There was another little boy with albinism.  So handsome.  A newly delivered and premature baby rested in a crib in the corner.  Her little head was just tiny, tiny and so I know she was really early.  Oh, the anguish!  I can't even write about the rest of them.  I just spoke God's truth over them, individually.  Jim said he was going around the room doing the same thing.  I honestly do not know how long we did that for or what was happening while we did or what the orphanage staff thought...it was time suspended.  I know the Lord has called us to intercede for those children.  One of the babies just had his paperwork submitted to CCAA.  I stared really hard at Jim and he just shook his head with tears in his eyes.  

Cooper and Jeb took it all in with wide eyes.  We still haven't had a chance to process with them.  I know there was much they learned, and much they have to ponder.  My prayer is that their hearts become broken with the things that break GOd's heart.  And that their hearts rejoice at the things that make His heart rejoice.  We saw both yesterday.  

We spent come time talking to Emma's teachers and showing them pictures of her family.  Everyone just loves that she is the baby in the family . We tell everyone that in the US the baby is the most special.  They can't quite fathom that.  I love saying it.  And I think they liked seeing how we all clearly adore Emma.  It is obvious that they love her, too.  So many people went out of their way to come greet her and give her their attention and love.  She was happy and glowing.  It was a very good thing.

When it was time to leave for lunch, Emma had time to say goodbye to the staff, and it felt right.  It was hard to know what they were saying, and while Chris translated some of it, there is always the wonder if some things are not translated.  It is all okay, though.  We know what we know and we know what we saw.  We will hold it all in our hearts, and help Emma remember, too.  They asked us to please bring her back to visit one day.  I surely hope one day we do.  

Lunch was its own adventure, and you get the gist of it from the post about worms and lungs, intestine and pickled seaweed.  We did also eat WONDERFUL things: our guide ordered an incredible seafood noodle dish that had squid, shrimp and a bevy of other sea creatures that met our approval in it.  There was a very spicy chicken dish with peppers and onions that were so delicious I could have eaten them alone for a meal, a beef dish that was in a savory sauce, firm tofu in a really tasty sauce (I can't really recall it right now but Cooper especially loved it), eggplant that I want to recreate at home, two kinds of tea that were different and good!  They offered us all beer, and we declined.  Although after the worms...just kidding.  

From lunch we drove to try and find Emma's finding spot.  The finding spot is the place she was left by whoever left her.  It was very hard to find, and in a part of town that was a very different China than we have seen before.  I will let the pictures tell the story. We tried to take a lot of video of the area.  It was good to see the neighborhood.  And hard.  Sad.  

It was then onto the train station.  That is a memory I would like to erase and features hours in a train station with a little girl who just had a day that would send most of us to bed for a year.  It also featured inquisitive people asking who her Daddy is (I think they thought I was her Mom?), babies going potty behind trash cans in public (I know it is just fine here, and it isn't wrong, it is just very different and unhygenic and slightly disturing to us), clouds of cigarette smoke (Jeb and COoper decided that since being here they have technically tried smoking due to all the second hand smoke they have inhaled and they can authoritatively claim smoking as disgusting!) and a very tired group of westerners who had just taken in a lot and didn't have much margin left for more.  End of rope, might have described us all quite well.  When the train finally came and I sat down on a seat that was clearly wet with urine, I decided it was either take a VERY DEEP breath through my open mouth (to do so through my nose would have then involved retching) or start screaming.  I didn't scream.  You can clap now.  There is a crown in heaven for me with that event of righteousness inscribed on it.  And yes, I will cast it down with glee. Jim put 2 magazines on the seat and did what any good "blue" does for "pink", he took one for the team.  I sat in a different seat with damp pants and valiantly tried to repeat over and over the words from the Little Engine that Could.  Soon, just not soon enough, we were back in Fuzhou.  The people in the seats in front of us were also relieved.  They are probably writing blog posts about the annoying Americans whose child kicked their seats the entire time and a really weird woman who kept looking out the train window and crying.  Oh, well.  Sometimes we just do our best.  And as Tony says, "forget the rest".  That's a shout out to the Andersons.  Remember this for your own adventures. :)

FINALLY we were back "home".  We walked through raw sewage in the train tunnel, threw ourselves into 2 separate cabs, because we can't all fit in one.  Jeb, COoper and I were in one cab with 50 yuan and my cell phone and a card with our hotels address on it.  It was night and I had no idea where we were.  DId I already post about this?  It involved a lost and angry cab driver who repetitively banged his head on the steering wheel, a silent three passengers except for me who finally prayed out loud in the cab, and Jim's backpack that had his (dead) phone.  I couldn't have called him.  But I did have a plan.  There are army people on every corner.  They were going ot help us if we needed them.  And I was ready to be a strong, loud blond woman.  No one would be able to "not see us".  Thank goodness that didn't come to pass and we arrived at our hotel.  

All done.  :)

We remedied the drama of the day with apple pie a la mode and french fries in our rooms.  Long hot showers and two sinks full of clothing washed and wrung out and we were feeling a bit more human.  I will say that showers were before the food.  

Bedtime came quickly, and we all feel into sleep with much on our minds and in our hearts.  Jim dreamed I was hosting a Saturday Night Live show, and Obama was coming to town to play a secret baseball game.  Jim had to somehow facilitate his visit as an undercover agent and I was going to interview Obama.  

I'm going with WORM DREAMS on that one.  Today was a new day.  No urine, no raw sewage, no worms or lungs.  

Our last sleep in Fuzhou and Fujian.  We board a plane tomorrow to Guangzhou where we complete the final steps in our adoption.  We had a beautiful family day today, and i will post about that later!  Cooper ahd the computer all afternoon working on homework.  It's cutting into my writing! :)

Love you all,

Sara

Rain rain you can stay

We will have fun anyway!

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