The First Full Day With The Family

It has been a very lazy day today.  We are all exhausted and hoping tonight everyone sleeps well.  We had a few visitors today and we also ventured to Jose Peppers for lunch.  Melissa and I have be graving Mexican food so we thought they may not be so busy at lunch time since this will be Iris's first outing with the family.  She did great and so was the food.

Ansley and Elliott have been so excited all day to play with Iris.  It has been fun to watch them interact and how she responds.  So far so good.  Iris took a nice long nap this afternoon and was very upset we woke her up.  But we have to get her schedule corrected.  She is now in bed and hopefully going to sleep through the night (mom and dad need this so we can catch up on the sleep we have missed the last two days).  We are debating on trying to go to church tomorrow, it will probably depend on how the night goes.

Attached are some photos from our arrival at KCI and a few photos from today.  Iris is awesome and our family is so blessed to have her home. We are very thankful to all of our families who helped us with the kids and the house while we were gone.

Finally, Iris Is Home

Sorry for not posting a in a few days but the journey home was long.  It is Saturday morning and we are exhausted and the kids are getting to know each other. 

The flight from Hong Kong to Chicago was almost 14 hours and it seemed longer.  All things considered Iris did a great job.  There were three other adoptive families on the same flight so it was nice to see familiar faces.  Iris fell asleep about one hour into the flight but only slept for 45 minutes.  After a few hours she ate and then attempted to sleep.  She did fight it but finally went to sleep.  Not too long after going to sleep it was time for them to serve more food so she woke up.  Eventually she slept for about 6 hours which was great.

Once we got to Chicago we knew the hardest part was over.  Melissa's sister came to the airport and was the first family member to meet Iris.  It was nice to see a family member and she brought gifts for Iris.  (As you can see we changed her cloths in Chicago)

The trip to Kansas City was short and sweet.  Melissa and I were completely worn out at this point but we knew the end was near (Melissa and I did not sleep at all on the long flight from Hong Kong).  Iris was also worn out but she maintained enough to make the final leg manageable.

We arrived to Kansas City with about 15 people waiting to greet Iris.  It was awesome.  I did not get any pictures but am hoping that others took pictures and will email them to me.   I was busy trying to video the experience.  We quickly hugged and kissed Ansley and Elliot before they starting playing with Iris.  She quickly took to the kids (Ansley, Elliot and Alex) and they played for several minutes.  Most of the adults were crying with excitement and it was truly a wonderful moment.  Iris was showing them how she can light up any room.  God is good.

After several minutes of hugging and greeting everyone it was time to get the luggage.  Only two of the three suitcases made it so we had to fill out a claim form and hope for the best.  It would later be delivered about 11:30pm (just as we were about 2 hours into some much needed sleep).  We were glad it made it.

Once the luggage arrived that would be the last sleep I would get for the night.  Iris woke up and was not going back to sleep.  About 1:00am after trying to convince her to sleep I decided to get up and let her play for a while.  About 4:00am she decided she would try again so we went back to bed.  Iris did go to sleep for about 2 hours.  However, Elliot then woke up so I went to his room where by this point I was way beyond going to sleep. 

Iris woke up about 6:15am and so did the entire house.  The kids are so excited and so is Iris to have a new brother and sister.  Not sure Iris understands what is happening but she is having fun figuring it out.

It will be nice once we all get back on our regular routine and schedules.  Hopefully tonight everyone will sleep good and start the process.

Attached are some photos from our journey home.  I will post some pictures of arriving at KCI once I have them.  I will also post some pictures with Ansley and Elliot later today.

Iris Is Heading Home

We are going to board our flight in 15 minutes.  I found a free wireless connection and decided to try to post this blog.  See you all soon.

It is 9:03am in Hong Kong. We have eaten breakfast and are now waiting for our flight to Chicago. We will not be able to post this until we get back to Kansas City (we decided not to spend the money for the internet while in Hong Kong for only a few hours). So we are typing this so we can capture our last days in Asia.
Yesterday we spent the morning in the playroom with Parker and his parents as we waited to leave Guangzhou. We left the White Swan hotel at 2:!5 to go pick up Iris's visa. We then headed to the train station with all luggage. It would have been nice to have one more set of hands to help haul everything through the train station.

There are a few flights of stairs and steps before you actually get to the train. You have to go through security, customs, etc… We knew going into the day that there would be challenges and tests so we were prepared and managed.
The train ride to Hong Kong was 2 hours and Iris did pretty good even though there was not a lot to do on the train. We arrived in Hong Kong and immediately found McDonalds and relaxed for a short while. Again lugging all of our stuff (and Iris) with just the two of us was a challenge. After eating we found a taxi and took a nice ride to the hotel.

The taxi ride was nice as we saw a glimpse of Hong Kong and saw the awesome skyline at night. It looks to be a great city and we would love to have had the opportunity to spend more time here and see more.
Once at the hotel Iris took a bath and quickly went to sleep.
We are now sitting in our room waiting for the time to go to the airport. We will actually walk over to the airport as it is very close. There is actually an airplane that we look down upon. It is amazing we did not hear any airplane noise in our room.

Iris has no idea what is going to happen over the next 18 hours. She will leave as a Chinese citizen and will arrive as a US citizen. She will also have a brother, sister, and dog when we arrive at home. Today is emotional for mom and dad and we can not wait for Ansley and Elliot to see their sister.
We are anxious to leave but we are worried about the 14.5 hour plane ride to Chicago. We will see a lot of you in Kansas City and can not wait to arrive.

Last Night In China

Tonight is our last night in China.  Tomorrow afternoon we will pick up Iris's visa and catch a train to Hong Kong.  This afternoon we traveled via bus to the US Immigration office and finalized the adoption.  There were 21 families there today and we all had to take an oath on behalf of the kids.  It was symbolic in that is seems so official now.

 

Throughout the day we said goodbye to a lot of families we had met this week.  There have been so many families with so many stories and each one will remain in our memories.  We tried to share emails and blogs with some so we can hopefully keep in touch.  It seems like there was a bond with each family, even the ones we did not spend a lot of time with.  We were all here for the same reason and there is a common thread with all of us.

 

Tomorrow will be the start of testing our patience for the trip home.  We have a 45 minute bus ride back to the immigration office to pick up the visa and then a short trip to the train station.  The train ride is about 2 hours  Once we arrive in Hong Kong it will just me the three of us.  We will have to carry all of our luggage and Iris through the train station (which we have been told is not set up for lugging a lot of things around as there are many stairs).  We have to change some money to Hong Kong dollars for the taxi ride and then catch a taxi to the hotel at the airport.  The taxi ride will be about 45 minutes.  I think it will be later in the evening before we finally get to the hotel so Iris should be worn out (and challenging).

 

Today we also tried to get a few more photos of Iris on the Red Couch with the family from Dodge City.  Iris was wearing another new outfit and we had plans of these beautiful photos.  However, Iris was not cooperating.  We took some of Iris and she fought it the entire time.  The family from Dodge City came down and their little girl Lindsey posed wonderfully.  What we have learned is each child has their moments and you never know when it will hit.  Melissa and I just laughed as there was nothing else to do.

 

Ir is been wearing big girl panties the past few days whenever we are in the room.  She is doing a good job now that she is used to them.  The first day she was constantly taking them off and on.  She is finally ok with them and wears them as if she has always worn them.

 

The bed here at the White Swan is like a brick so we are ready to move on. 

 

Melissa and I are so ready to arrive in Kansas City on Friday.  We can not wait to see Ansley and Elliot.  Talking to them on Skype each day is great but we both agree that Elliot looks like has grown since we left two weeks ago.  Just a few more days!

Long Day for Iris and Ben

This morning after breakfast we hung out in our room for most of the morning as our appointment with the consulate was at 10:00am.  The adoption agency goes to the appointment but you have to stay in the room in case they need to call us.  Everything went fine and we headed over to the Pierce's hotel around noon to go shopping.

 

We hired Anne from Red Thread to take us to some clothing and toy markets.  The wives purchased a lot of items.  It was extremely hot and humid today.  This combined with Iris going to bed late the night before made for a long afternoon.  We returned to the island as the Pierces wanted to shop there and then eat dinner at Lucy's.  Lucy's is the safe choice for western food and it is only a block or so away.  They serve a great iced tea in a old canning jar.

 

After dinner we shopped a little more and Ben and Iris struggled.  They were both tired and over stimulated.  It is now 8:36pm and Iris just got out of the bath and we are trying to calm her down.

 

We should be done with all of the shopping and winding down the trip.  Tomorrow we have an exist interview with the adoption agency and in the afternoon we have the oath taking ceremony.  This will take up most of the day.  Unfortunately there are no camera allowed at the oath takng ceremony.

 

At 1:00 tomorrow we will meet the family from Dodge City for photos on the Red Couch.  This hotel is famous for the adoptive families to take photos on the Red Couch.  We also took some photos this afternoon with Ben and Iris on the Red Couches.

 

Unfortunately I have caught a cold in the last 24 hours.  Nothing better than a good summer cold while traveling.

 

Iris and Ben had some good moments today and they both had their moments today.  At one point they were holding hands while we walked.  But they also had complete melt downs throughout the day.  In their defense, it was very hot and a very long day.

 

We are only a few days from traveling home and the 14.5 hours on a plane is scaring both of us.  Iris is a very active little girl and strong willed.  We are praying she surprises us!

 

We have met a lot of great people this week and it is amazing how many of them are back adopting there second child.  We have only met one family who adotped a non-special needs child (they waited five years fr her).  Since we have been here we have come to realize how great the need is for these children.  If these children would not get adopted they would almost certainly end up on the streets or in a home for elderly people.  We have seen a lot of "homeless" looking people here in China that have special needs, these are the peole who did not get adopted.

 

When we were in Wuhan there was a homeless man who slept on the sidewalk on one side of our hotel.  He was missing one leg below the knee.  He looked to be about my age (kind of hard to tell as he was pretty rough) but my guess is that he was turned out of an orphanage when he was a teenager.  Most certainly uneducated and never taught any skills.  In this country he had no chance.

 

We can not wait to see everyone this weekend and introduce Iris.  She is going to fit right into our wonderful family.  I think she made add a little "spice" to the family. 

Just us girls

Today Joel had to go out of town to visit some tool shops that his  company works with.  So it was just Iris and me today.  At breakfast I think she is finally realizing that there will always be food.  She ate a normal amount of food for a 2 year old girl.  I think we have finally filled the bottomless pit.  Anyway we went to the play room to pass the time until we had to go to our TB test.  I just can't tell you how much this girl loves to play.  When we walk in everyone says "here come Iris"  Not sure if that is meant as a good thing or a "oh no here come crazy girl again".  We like to think it is a good thing!

The TB test was good so no worries there.  However, Iris remembered that place and started screaming the minute we walked in and didn't stop until we were several blocks away.  It was so sad when I had to walk her back into the room where she just days before got stuck and try to make her understand that it was all right.  She clung so tightly to me I couldn't get her off.  The nurse just had to go behind me and look at her arm.  Then we were out of there.

We then had lunch and took a little nap then we went to the pool.  The pool here is great.  They have a baby pool that Iris loved.  She was jumping and splashing all over that pool.  She would fall under the water and when I pulled her up she would just laugh. Needless to say I couldn't get any pictures since I needed to keep all hands and eyes on her.  She is crazy.  And to think her referral said she was timid, shy and quiet. HA everyone at the White Swan knows Iris.  If she is not trying to play with their child she is racing down the halls in her squeaky shoes saying "hello" to every floor light and person she sees. 

I still laugh thinking about how they asked us if we were happy with Iris and still wanted to go through with the adoption since they didn't disclose the fact that she has a birthmark on her shoulder.  I am OK with the birthmark its the super active strong willed personality I am wanting to think over. LOL  She is so funny and just can't believe how well she is doing.  She has hardly even noticed that Joel is not here.  I knew I could work my mommy magic on her. 

Shamian Island is really beautiful and it works well for us to get out and walk with Iris since car rides make her sick.  But boy am I ready to come home.  I miss Ansley and Elliot so much.  I am even starting to miss Clementine the dog.  Clem, you are in for it when Iris gets home.    

Iris even let me put a headband on her today.  She loved it but keep pulling it off and then bringing it to me to put back on.  I finally had to put it away to much trouble.  Maybe there is hope for my girly girl yet.  If not a rough and tumble little girl is great too.

 

I may have spoke to soon about Iris not missing Joel.  We had a sudden thunder storm and she got so scared.  It was all I could do to calm her down.  Once Joel finally walked into the room she perked right up and ran to him.  She was very glad to have daddy back. 

 

 

Squeaky Iris

Iris slept surprisingly well considering she had 5 shots yesterday, 4 shots and a TB test.  As usual though the minute she opens her eyes she is ready to eat (actually she never stops eating).  After breakfast we went to the Yuantai Gardens.  They were very pretty.  Naturally Iris made some friends there.   Once we sweated all we could stand we went back to the hotel.  Joel and Iris went down to the play room where she made even more friends.  This little girl is very social.  She is starting to discriminate a little more with adults but children are fair game she runs right over to them to play. 

 

Later that day we went to the Jade and Pearl market where we bought several things.  Then back to the island.  Iris is in hog heaven.  She got some squeaky shoes, they are driving me crazy but she loves them.  Now all she wants to do is walk around so she can hear them squeak.  I am as happy as can be because I found pull ups!  Diapers are fairly easy to come by but pull ups are not.  I bought them thinking they were just diapers so I was very pleased to find out and I hit pay dirt.  Best purchase all  day. 

 

Today is Fathers day and Joel had really been blessed by his daughter, she left a little "treat" on his pillow.  After going to potty she came out of the restroom with nothing on below the waist.  I grabbed a diaper and she jump on the bed and scooted up towards the pillows (on Joel's side of the bed).  I tried to grab her but she scooted around some more leaving a nice smear on his area of the blanket.  I have laughed all day about this.  Joel tried to clean it up but the thought will never leave him.

 

Tonight we ate dinner with the Pierce family at Lucy's.  There we visited with several other adoptive families.  After dinner we went to the play room of the hotel to let the kids play.  Iris was in overdrive and was so wound up.  Another little boy named Parker joined us so Iris had two boys to play with.  We all enjoyed watching the kids play and wear themselves out.   Parkers dad could not believe how outgoing Iris was.  Needless to say after a quick bath she went to sleep.

 

It was a great day again with Iris.  She was in good spirits all day and enjoyed a lot of attention from other families.  She seems to make friends with everyone. 

 

 

Medical Exam Today

Today started early as Iris awoke about 6:15am.  We headed down for breakfast around 8:00am and the food was very good (western style food).  In the restaurant we met several adoptive families.  The family sitting closest to us was from Dodge City, Kansas.  They adopted a 2 year old girl and they also brought their two sons and aunt and uncle.  This family is a Holt family and are on the same time line as us (meaning they traveled quickly).

 

We met several families from all over the USA.  There will be a lot more families arriving this week is what we are hearing.  With the Dragon Boat Festival last week the number of people in town this week is very low.  Walking through the lobby I noticed an American who had a polo shirt on which had a logo for an optometry business.  I asked if he was an optometrist and he told us he and his wife are.  They are adopting and live in Alaska.  I immediately told him about Iris and he took a look at her eyes.  He rattled off some technical stuff and in the end thought she would have a positive outcome.  We all need to keep praying for her eyes.

 

At 11:00am we headed off to the medical exam.  Again there were several adoptive families (along with the locals) in this medical clinic.  We saw the Pierce family and made plans to go shopping with them on Tuesday with Anne from Red Thread.

 

The clinic was very small and crowded.  There was a separate area for the adoptive families.  A female ENT person checked her out first and then she moved into the room for checking height and weight.  Next she was seen by a doctor and he examined her for about 5 minutes.  The final phase was the shots.

 

Iris had to get 4 shots.  Ouch!  She was not happy but she did a good job.  She only cried while they were actually giving her the shots and soon seemed back to normal.  They made us stay at the clinic for 20 minutes after the shots to make sure she did not react to anything.  Iris had all bandaides ripped off before we got back to the hotel.

 

The clinic had a lot of mosquitoes.  There was also a person with a regular broom sweeping the entire time.  None of the rooms for exams or shots had any doors so it was almost open to the outside.  At one point they laid Iris on a table to examine and there was paper on the table.  They did not change the paper between kids.  I will say it was cleaner than I expected but there was a lot to be desired for a medical clinic.

 

We stopped at a few shops on the way back to the hotel.  We also gave Iris some Tylenol thinking she may get sore from the shots.  We finally got back to the hotel and thought she would take a nap.  No chance of that.  She never did go to sleep and she never acted like the shots even bothered her.  We also found the Tylenol in the seat of her stroller, she never even swallowed them.

 

At 3:00pm I had to go sign some papers and meet with Holt.  This only took about 15 minutes and when I returned we headed back out to walk around.  We purchased some gifts and keepsakes.  It is extremely hot and humid here.  We headed back to the hotel and went to the kids play room and let Iris run around and play.  She loved it.  We will spend a lot more time here in the coming days.

 

The area around the hotel to great.  There are a lot of little shops and restaurants.  The area has a lot of construction as there are some type of "games" coming to China in the fall so they are fixing up the area.  It is amazing how they are painting everything and remodeling almost all of the buildings.  The area reminds me of somewhere like New Orleans with the old buildings and painted wood trim.  They are also planting beautiful plants along every sidewalk.  It is really a neat area.

 

Tonight we ate dinner at Lucy's and had cheeseburgers and fries.  We are back to the room and going to try and put Iris down early.  She has been sleeping well once she gets to sleep but fights not to go to sleep.  It is like she gets wound up around bead time and likes to sing, laugh, scream and laugh some more.  The more Melissa and I get frustrated with her the funnier she thinks it is!  Soon we find ourselves laughing also.

 

Tomorrow is a noting day so we may investigate our options and venture out somewhere.  Iris is bonding with Melissa and now spends a lot of time having her hold her.  This little girl has such a sassy personality and everyone is going to fall in love with her.  She is also very smart and has picked up several English words.  

 

She is very beautiful and we get a lot of people saying this.  People go out of their way to tell us how beautful she is.  Several locals have also told us this and several have commented on how they hope her eyes can be fixed.  The locals are very curious about her eyes.

 

One thing I forgot to tell about China is that everyone spits.  It may be due to the smog?  Old women and men, young people; it does not matter, they all spit.

 

Also, we purcahsed a stroller and Iris is finally getting used to it.  This really helps mom and dad.

 

We are anxiuos to return home.  We miss Ansley and Elliot and can not wait to see them again.  They are going to love Iris and she is going to love them.  Enjoy the today's photos.

A Few More Airplane Photos

The First Plane Ride

This morning after breakfast we loaded up and head to get Iris's passport and final China papers.  Her passport has her original referral picture and it is issued from the People's Republic of China.  It was about one hour in the car to get the passport and then 1.5 hours to the airport.  Iris did a great job and did not seem to get car sick.  She has been in good spirits all day.

 

We gave Iris some Dramamine to help her with motion sickness (and help her sleep on plane).  She slept about 15 minutes of the 1.5 hour flight.  She cried for only a few minutes and was very good.  Once we arrived in Guangzhou we then had a 45 minute care ride.  At this point she was a little worked up but still in good spirits and happy.

 

We are staying at the White Swan Hotel and it seems to be very nice with a lot of shopping and restaurants close by.  They say it is on an island but I have not figured this out yet.

 

There are several adoptive families here and we are looking forward to finding some playmates for Iris.  We spoke briefly with a couple from Philly and they had a 14 month old girl.  Looking forward to seeing more adoptive families. 

 

Iris is starting to bond very well with Melissa.  This is great to see.  It has been a very long day and we are going to bed early.  We will post more information tomorrow as Iris gets her Visa photo and medical exam tomorrow.

 

Attached are a few traveling pictures.

A Few MOre Thoughts From The Day

As we prepare for our last night in Wuhan (and our first full week with Iris) I thought it would be a good time to post some random thoughts and reflections from the week.   Today at the temple while speaking to the families there one of the moms noted Iris has a birth mark on the back of her right arm.  The mark is very lite in color and is only about the size of a quarter (smaller than a quarter).  But to them this is a negative.  The woman pulled Melissa aside and showed her a birth mark on her daughter's shoulder / arm.  She had the girl in a short sleeve shirt so the mark could not be seen.  She quickly pulled the sleeve down after showing the mark.  Later in the day our guide noted the birth mark on Iris's shoulder as well.  She did not make a big deal of it but you could tell it was a negative.  Amazing you can see this beautiful little girl and make a comment about something so minor.  It did not upset us as we understand this is only a cultural thing.  I only tell this as a cultural difference and in no way did anyone of these people say these things in a bad manor, they were all very nice and friendly and we enjoyed spending time with each of them.   Today during lunch I had the opportunity to ask our guide some questions regarding orphanages and politics in China.  She explained how the people of China would like the government to give them more freedoms, and jobs.  She indicated there are people in China getting very rich while millions of others in the country live such a meager life.  The challenge is there are so many people in China they may not be able to support them all.  In her Providence the average salary is about $200.00 (us dollars) each month.      I told her one of the things I notice about China is that it seems difficult to separate the rich and poor (meaning there will be a nice large new building and next to it there will be a "shack" with a person pedaling nick-knacks out front).  She agreed but also said that I had not seen poor until I go into the country sides and see how the people live.  That is hard to believe as we walked around and drove through the city I thought I saw some very poor people.   I inquired about schools in China which lead me to the biggest question I had:  if no family would have adopted Iris would she have gone to school and what would her future be?  First she said (and she has made this comment several times throughout the week) Iris has not been adopted because of her congenital cataracts, most people are afraid of this.  She told us Iris would not have gone to school.  Many times when kids do not get adopted they end up working at the orphanage for the rest of their lives or going to live with the elderly.   Once Iris turned 18 she probably would have been sent to live with the elderly as she could not work because of her eyes.  Iris is one of the lucky ones but just think of all the kids who are not so lucky.  It was very hard to hear this.   I keep thinking back to the comment the Pierce family heard from a Chinese person: "you Christians come to China and adopt the children they would disregard".    We really miss Mexican food!  We actually googled "Mexican food in Wuhan China" and found one.  The Aloha Diner is owned by a family from Hawaii and they serve Hawaiian and Mexican food.  It looked to be a long way on the map so we did not get a chance to try it.   Each time we get into a taxi it amazes us how these people commute.  But Melissa made a good point, as crazy as it seems, it seems to work for them.  We did not see any wrecks.    Iris is very head strong and gets very worked up.  We wonder if this is her way of figuring things out and learning her boundaries.  We hope when she gets home she gets into a groove with Ansley and Elliott.