Adoption Day

Tuesday, March 19th was the day Mycah Junbin joined our family forever! When he first woke up, he had a blank stare for quite a while. But, oh, how he lit up when I showed him his new clothes. He was very excited about his Mickey underwear and his new shoes! Down we went to breakfast where he promptly ate everything I had set before him. With my other kids, I always put lots of stuff on their plates since I wasn't sure what they would eat. They would pick through most of it, finding the few things they liked. So since this worked 3 children in a row, I did the same. Then I watched as he ate every grain of fried rice, every bit of corn congee, almost a full bowl of noodles, a banana, a sticky bun, and a couple of bites of watermelon. When he finally slowed down he had a funny look on his face and I was afraid we were about to see his first tears. So I promptly scooped him up and headed out to see the fish in the garden. He LOVED them and just jabbered away. When it was time to go back inside, he was walking very slowly. And as soon as we reached the table, his stomach apparently decided there was not enough room for what he had eaten! Yep...all over the new shoes! And yup, someone took a picture! (Thank you, Sonia, for taking care of that clean up while I took him back to the room! What would I do without you?) When I got back to the room I also noticed he had downed 2 packs of fruit snacks before we left for breakfast. Don't worry...I did a better food monitoring job the next day!

A few minutes later we were all cleaned up and heading back over to the Civil Affairs office where we met him less than 24 hours before. I asked the guide to make sure he understood what was going on and that he would still be leaving with me to go back to the hotel. I didn't want him to be upset that he wasn't seeing his teachers who brought him or worry that he would be having another traumatic experience! He was pretty stone faced once we arrived in the building. He quietly sat with his cup and snacks and just looked around. A couple of interviews and a few stamps later, we were done, and he was officially a Saylor! What a joy!

Gotcha Day...the beginning

Feel free to skip to the pictures, and then come back and read:-)

Monday was the LONGEST morning ever! We weren't leaving the hotel until 2:00, and time seemed to absolutely drag by! It was a morning of much excitement as well as much anxiety! We finally loaded up on our minivan with two other families that are here with our agency and made the 20000 minute drive to the Civil Affairs office. Ok, so maybe it was 20, but it seemed much longer! The drive through Guangzhou was amazing. It seems safer to drive through New York City. But what an incredible people.

We finally arrived at the Civil Affairs office, knowing Mycah was probably already in the building. When we reached the room where we were to meet our children, they were all waiting for us behind the colorful curtain. Let me tell you that it's very difficult to let only a curtain separate mamas and babas, who have waited for months or years, from their beloved children. Every few minutes another child would be lead out to their waiting parents. It was such an awesome thing to witness...a total of 28 children joined their forever families that day! Each time the curtain would open, waiting parents would try to peek in and see if they could find their little one. And guess who was sitting right by the doorway? My heart skipped a beat or 2...or more? He was perfect! Soon out he came. Definitely had the whole blank stare thing going on. But he never cried. He feet weren't moving too fast though. He was definitely hesitant. But after I pulled out a small Mickey Mouse, a couple of dum dums, and an airplane, he seemed to relax a little. We sat and played and talked to one of the orphanage workers for a while. I learned he will eat everything, likes small cars and toys, sleeps well, and goes by the nickname "Ban Ban" (which is pronounced like the ice cream treats Bon Bons. :-). We spent a few more minutes together, took a trip to the bathroom (my first squatty potty experience...glad he knew what he was doing!), and signed a few papers for temporary guardianship. Then back to the hotel with my precious little guy! A few hours later we ventured out with some friends to a local Mexican restaurant. The owner spoke Spanish...a language I understand much better than Chinese! Still working on that:-)

All in all it was a Gotcha Day of which one only dares to dream about. We are so blessed to have Mycah Junbin...my heart grew more than you can imagine the minute he walked out of that curtain!

Special thanks to my amazing friend Sonia Martin for the priceless pictures. What a treasure! You can check out her blog for the lighter side of our trip.

www.cheaperbythehalfdozens.blogspot.com

Adopted

I am not sure I will ever be able to accurately convey all of the emotion and thoughts of yesterday, the day Mycah Junbin walked in to my life. We had chosen him so long ago, it seemed as if this day would never come. Mycah did nothing to make that happen. We had prepared for months, making sure everything was ready for him. He had no idea what was being prepared for him. We had paid a high price. Mycah didn't chip in a dime. We had waited Oh. So. Long! Mycah has just been living life. But I was no longer waiting on multiple agencies, or paperwork, or money, or days on the calendar. Now the only thing I was waiting on was for him to walk out from behind the colorful curtain and into my arms. I knew he was there. I had seen him when they opened the curtain to bring out another child. I was simply waiting on him to take a few more steps. The time was finally here, and i thought nothing of the difficult parts of this journey. The only thing I felt or thought about was the anticipation of the absolute joy that being united with your child can bring.

So my thoughts on the van ride back to hotel?

We have all been chosen by God so long ago! We did nothing to make that happen.

God prepared an incredible place for us to live and incredible people for us to enjoy. We had no idea what was being prepared for us.

God paid the highest price...the life of His Son. We could not pay any part of that price.

And then He waited for us.

For some of us He still waits. Not with resentment for how much we have cost, or how long we have made Him wait. But with great anticipation of our choice to walk into His loving arms and be a part of a truly "Forever Family."

Mycah now has an earthly Forever Family. Today will make that official in China's eyes as we go back to Civil Affairs and tell them whether or not we still want to proceed with the adoption. Are you kidding me? This excites me to no end! Even more exciting is the fact that someday Mycah will have an opportunity to be adopted into a heavenly Forever Family. Have you been adopted?

Gotcha Day...the end!

The beginning will hopefully get posted tomorrow. But this mama is tired!

We got him...he hasn't cried yet...he entertains himself well...he is absolutely adorable!

Last night an orphan...tonight he's a treasured son. Good night, all!

Guangzhou Day 1

So if you frequent many adoption blogs, this is a post you may want to skip. It is quite a typical "first day" post:-)
We are so close to Mycah...only about an hour and a half away! This morning we took the train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou where we will spend the rest of our trip. What a difference between Hong Kong and the rest of China! The 2 hour train ride was absolutely fascinating. The climate here is much like central Florida (warm and OH SO humid!), so they can grow almost anything. There were some really neat trees and plants that I have never seen before. Can't wait to get pics of them. We also saw the incredible poverty that much of this country lives in. What a contrast between our homes and theirs. And I'm sure the next time the whole"wants vs. needs" conversation comes up with my kids, I will be pulling out some pictures of this trip. The people and the country are amazing, however. Just wish I could communicate here a little better.

Our guide met us at the train station and brought us here to The Garden. What an amazing hotel! When we arrived our room was not ready, so we ventured out to Trustmart, which is the Walmart here in china. It is set up very differently. There are multiple floors and it is very crowded! We managed to pick up some food for our room and even a couple goodies to take back to our kids. We did pass on the live turtle (in the meat department!) and dried stingray, however. Luckily I did find a very important item you will see below! Our breakfast this morning was huge, so we just snacked for lunch. I think we are going to venture out for dinner soon, even though I think I am more tired than hungry! Early bedtime for me tonight. Hopefully I can sleep past 3:45am this time.

One more sleep without your family, Mycah Junbin! Gotcha Day is tomorrow. We are meeting in the hotel lobby at 2:00pm head to the civil affairs office. That's 2am Monday morning for my east coast friends and family! So hopefully by the time you guys wake up, I'll have something posted!

Longest Flight Ever!

Ok...for ME it was the longest flight ever. I left my house at 6:30am on Friday, and we arrived in Hong Kong at 6:30pm Saturday night! Yes there is a 12 hour time difference, but that was still a 24 hr trip! I saw 2 sunsets and 1 sunrise during our long flight, and it never got completely dark. Our flight path took us north from New York over Canada and the Arctic then down over Russia and china until we reached HK. Sonia was a trooper desire her strong dislike of flying, but I still couldn't get her to look at cool things like the cracks in the arctic ice, or the snow covered mountains in Siberia. The sunset definitely took the cake though! I wish my pictures did it justice. Off to bed now. I think I am so tired that jet lag will not be an issue. Hopefully anyway!

Only 2 more sleeps for Mycah before his little world gets rocked. Please continue to pray for him.

On My Way!

I can't believe the day is finally here. I also can't believe how many conflicting emotions I have today! Excitement is definitely one of them! But tiny bits of sadness and fear keep popping up as well. It was hard to leave the kids today...hard to say goodbye when Darrell dropped me off at the airport. Leaving everything and almost everyone I know and am comfortable with is quite a reality check. I guess it does give me a little perspective on how Mycah will feel in just 3 short days!

For those who are interested, my flight leaves DC at 10:15 and heads to JFK. There I will find my incredible friend and travel partner, Sonia. We will leave JFK for Hong Kong at 2:55pm. We will arrive in HK at 7pm tomorrow local time, which is 7am EST Saturday.

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to all of you who have supported us financially on our journey! We could not have done this without you. You have partnered with us to fulfill God's command to take care of the orphan. I pray God would reward your faithfulness and generosity!

Please pray for the following today.

1. Pray for travel safety!
2. Pray for no delays.
3. Pray for my friend Sonia as she has left her 7 beautiful boys at home to help me bring home mine! I know her Momma's heart is heavy today.
4. Pray for Mycah. Pray that he is being prepared for his big change and that he immediately feels safe and loved when he walks into my arms.
5. Pray for Darrell and my dad and Mary as they hold down the fort here at home.
6. Pray for Zachary, Alyssa and Nathyn that their hearts are also prepared for the change in our family. And that they get their schoolwork done :-)


Blessings from DC!

Part 2....

We made it to HK! 16 hours was a long time to sit in one seat! Hong Kong looks amazing at night with all the lights. Hopefully a better blogpost on Sunday. It is WAY past my bedtime!