Show Off

                        Here we are with the Magnuson clan..Jesse holding their new daughter Glory, Amber holding Emet and Jamin standing in front in the red coat. They would also add Saige to their family a few days later. Yes, that's right they adopted the boys from Ethiopia at the same time and then 2 girls at the same time for China.  (The random Chinese man was from the restuarant we dined in...a common occurence to see in our photos:)

Our story with the Magnuson's goes way back..to when we 1st decided to adopt, we met them at an adoption training seminar at Gateway Woods back in 2008. You can read more about this remarkable story in my previous posts. But, I couldn't tell the story better and give God more credit than Amber did on her blog..so these are her words, from their blog..www.magnews1.wordpress.com.

SHOW OFF
You can't tell me that my God is not a show off. He is. And He's the only One with any right to be. I mean, really, what other reason could there be to cause two families that met each other in 2008 as both were pursuing the adoption of their sons from Ethiopia, then having them travel together to meet their sons, two of which were from the same region, then 3 years later to discover that they are both adopting, (again) from China? Oh but, it gets better-the girls that both families are adopting are not only from the same province, but, from the same orphanage..(remembering that this area does very few adoptions, and the families are with different adoption agencies!) And just for kicks both families paperwork is ready at the same time and they get to travel together, again, to pick up their daughters. A praise-worthy show off is My God!
-Amber Magnuson

A little more backdrop to the story. The weeks before it was looking like we weren't going to be able to travel together, things just weren't coming together. Shari, (who was in our travel group) and I had been exchanging emails in the weeks prior to travel. In one of those emails she asked me if by chance we were the Matt and Elizabeth that were referenced in Amber's blog. Shari had just came across Amber's blog on a yahoo group. What are the chances?
Right before we left it really didn't look like things would work out for us to meet up. Shari emailed me and said, "Sorry it doesn't look like we will get to meet the Magnuson's." I told Shari, that while it looked impossible, in fact, at that late time it WAS kind of impossible, that I would be really surprised if God didn't pull it off. Well. It worked, since we were in Beijing the Magnuson's had an important piece their paperwork delivered to us at our hotel and we took it along to Gansu. His timing was perfect!

I love this story!!!

Promoting China Adoption

Here is our travel group, and new found great friends! Though we did meet many more adoptive families as well, this was our official group. The K family brought there 3 teenage boys along, as they adopted little Jasmine, their son Jonathon had us all cracking up most of the time, he is quite the comedian! They had waited a long time in the healthy program before switching to special needs and being matched with the perfect little 3 year old for their family.   The G family, brought along their 4 year old son adopted from China previously. I love their story! They adopted 2 kids this time. Isaac, and Jennai. I kind of felt like I already "knew" their daughter, Jennai, she had been on a waiting child list for a long time, and I also followed her on the Love Without Boundaries blog, (an American organization that takes great care of special needs kiddos in China.) Jennai, was born with only one arm, her other limbs were missing. She also had cleft lip and palate and a heart issue. She has one of those adorable faces that you just can't forget. We believe this little girl will impact the world in a great way with her testimony. Expect to see more from this little girl! (unfortunately they picked Jennai up on the last day and is not in this photo, I will try to post the other group photo that we took when I get it from another family.)
Dan and Teri from Oregon and Shari are our friends that were with us the entire trip, picking up our kids in Gansu together. We hope to keep in close contact with them, as we had an amazing trip and lots of adventures together. We could not have been matched with better travel companions, we have so much in common. Another way we know that God orchestrated this entire journey for His Glory!

Along the way we met so many families and so many children! Some were healthy children that the families had waited over 6 years for. Some were listed as "healthy children" and then ended up having some pretty significant concerns. There were lots of cleft lip and palate kiddos, which at this point we don't see as a significant need, though I am sure we will over the course of Adalynn's surgeries. However, it is very doable for us. There were kids with limb difference, missing fingers, repaired heart issues. There were also some "special needs" kids with really, really minor or completely repaired needs. There were babies, older kids and everything in between.

 I mention this as a little "plug" for China adoption. While China is a developing country the need is still great. The one child policy still exists in much of China. Forced abortion still happens. If parents can only have one child they want that child to be healthy. We made it a point in China to ask Chinese people about their children. One lady admiring our Adalynn, said that she had only one child, because that is all she is as allowed,she wanted a girl but,she NEEDED a boy. That pretty much sums it up. In addition to the superstition that comes with certain birth defects like cleft lip and palate, many believe that by keeping a child with this issue it will bring bad luck to the family.

Many people in China would point to our kids and make reference to their lips. At the airport in Gansu, a lady saw Samuel's lip and literally jumped back, shocked at the sight, and his lip is even repaired, but, a bit more noticeable than Adalynn's. Just another confirmation that they would not be accepted in the place of their birth.

I hear it all of the time. "We have always thought about adopting." but,,but..but.. "it's too hard, it's too expensive, the wait is to long, there is too much paperwork, we are not that tough, you never know what you are getting with adoption." Or the "if God wants us to adopt a baby will just show up." God rarely drops babies at doorsteps of adoptive families, he plants the seed that makes a family have the desire, but, it is up to us to do the work.

While we believe that all of the families we met in China, were special. The truth is they were just ordinary people following through on the plans that God had for them. Not everyone was wealthy, some had loans to cover their expenses, many received grants, or had fundraisers to help with expenses. Most of the families will be eligible to receive the tax credit, of over $13,000, (YES, a credit not a deduction!!! )

Granted you don't know exactly what you are getting with adoption. However, the same can be true with pregnancy. Our biological children had significant heath issues, that we never expected to have to deal with.
We were able to research different special needs and only be matched with a child that had medical concerns that we were comfortable with.
We had detailed medical and developmental reports on Adalynn, we had doctors review them, and we made the most informed decision that we felt possible.

It's not too late..we were actually among the youngest families to adopt from China. I would say the average age of adoptive parents would be mid 40's to early 50's. We met a couple that were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary in China while adopting their very 1st child!

Paperwork..now this one does get me! But, if I can do it anyone can. I am totally unorganized, to the point of being irresponsible. I don't keep track of stuff, I loose things all of the time. I am creative and not one bit detail oriented with boring paperwork. However, I take it one thing at a time, and I do it. It feels really good to accomplish something completely "out of my box of talents."

In the China adoption process, we found it to be very predictable, ethical with a well run system. Once we arrived in China everything was taken care of. We had a lot of appointments, but, everything was as we were told, we were never asked for additional money, or anything that we had not prepared for. Ethics in adoption is VERY important to us, and we felt that all of the "T's were crossed and all of the I's were dotted.")

Adoption is not for the faint at heart, and it certainly is not for everyone. However, we believe that God does equip the ones that He calls, and provides grace to cover it all! It is a step of faith. If you have any questions about our process, or are considering adoption we would love to share our story with you, and answer any questions that we can.

catching up!

                          We expected Adalynn to be a little delayed, not the case. She was bored with all of the baby toys I had brought her, so we went to some store and paid like $30 US for the only toy we could find that we thought she would like. I am pretty sure the price went way up when they saw us! I thought stuff was suppose to be cheap in China!

Wow! It has been a full week home, and we are adjusting. I am back to blogging after getting shut down while in China. We had signed up for a Virtual Private Network before we had went to China. Since facebook and blogger are blocked in China, the VPN, makes it appear that we are posting from San Francisco, Miami, or NYC. It worked fine until my last post with the Jesus Reigns etching in the Great Wall. Then even if we changed our city location we were shut down within seconds. Making us very grateful to live in this free country, even with the faults and short comings. We are blessed, we appreciate the freedoms and the rights that we have.

I have so many adventures to share with all of you. We can't believe how exciting and enjoyable our trip to China really was, and the great friends that we made while there.

Taken at the Zoo.

 Here is Shari's little Hannah. I love her ornery little personality! This photo sums her up, standing on the NO TOUCHING sign!

 Adalynn's 1st McDonald's experience. She loves to dip her french fries in ketchup, but, she had trouble swallowing her chicken nuggets.

                                               At  a museum, in Lanzhou.

I will also share more in another post about how it is going on the homefront. But, it is going much better. Since Matt went back to work Adalynn and I have been spending all of our time together, and she is tolerating me very well! She loves to play with me, I can carry her. Occasionally, she even lets me rock her. If anyone has seen us out and about, you probably know that she is pretty anti-social. Which we are grateful for, she is definitely not a "mommy shopper" like Eli was. She prefers me and is irritated if anyone so much as looks at her.

Jesus Reigns!

Before I begin, I will here is a picture that we took at the Great Wall of all places. Yes, Jesus does Reign. China is a spiritually dark place, this sign is a glimpse of light in the darkness. Today we toured a Buddhist Temple. Right before we entered we met this Chinese man pictured above. He came up to us, and said, in his best broken English. "Do you know? Have you heard the good news? God is ALIVE in China, the God that gave us Christmas." Yes, friend, we told him God IS alive in China, and He has always been here. This man was evangelizing even at great risk to himself.

We met another woman pictured above, her name is Helen and she is a Christian, and so is her mother and sister. We asked her how she came to believe, and she said it was through missionaries! Yes, God is here He is everywhere.  

 

 Here we are outside of the Buddhist temple. We are so thankful for these new friends.

 A Buddhist monk praying.

 Here is our sweet little girl, our precious chosen child, that was likely born a Buddhist, and abandoned because of the superstition that came with her birth defect. Our group plans to have a prayer and re dedication time for our children, to dedicate them to our Lord Jesus Christ, and to cast out any "spirits that have been spoken over them."

 As we entered this temple, we could feel a dark spirit there. It really is hard to explain. But, it feels like the absence of Hope. It is heavy, it is demonic.

 The people bow down and worship this god, they put money at his feet, and then they go on about their day.

 A solemn moment watching these people bow before a god who is not real. There shall be no other gods but, the One True God.

 

 I really can't understand worshipping something like this.

 Lighting candles as prayers.

Night life in Lanzhou

Lanzhou is quite the city at night, and we thought it was lively during the day. We met up with the Magnuson's and went out to dinner. This area was really developed with big tv like screens everywhere. There were people dancing, and dog socializing session. Lights, music and excitement evewhere!

Oh how I was longing for this!! PIZZA HUT! Of course, it was a cultural experience unlike anything back home. But, I don't think pizza had ever tasted so good!

Adventure

Tuesday was quite the adventure. It was declared a "free day" by our guide, who said we needed to rest. We were told that this city was safe so our group decided to go out exploring Lanzhou. This city is pretty authentic China, much more authentic than I figured we would be able to experience on this trip. So we walked and walked and yes we got lost. But, that is beside the point. It was an amazing fun and culture filled day. We are quite the spectacle, as there are no other Americans here, and I am guessing it is rare for these Chinese people to see any of us. We definetly got the attention of the locals, and yes a bit of criticim again for not having the babies dressed as Eskimos.

We found a school on our adventure, and we were surprised to see so many little girls, with the strong preference for boys here in China.

We were able to stand at the gate as the grandparents picked the kids up from school, one little boy came up and spoke to us in very good English, he told us he had been in Australia before. The kids seemed really happy, This is a happy culture.

Kind of creepy. This woman came up and even took off her mask to crticize us for the way we had Adalynn dressed.

They kind of celebrate Christmas here, but, there is no reason behind the season for them. This is probably the scariest Santa I have even seen.

Here we are at the Apple store. The guys were trying to get some kind of adapter. It took 2 Mandarin phrase books, and an ipad app to communicate, that they did not have the item.

Here we are at a mall...

Lunch, now that was an adventure. We decided to try something reallu authentic. We ate in a Muslim Resturant, they cooked the food up by the window. It was some kind of meat on a stick, it said beef, but, it wasn't beef, and some kind of spicy bread.

Lunch was a fun experience, we have a very adventurous travel group.

Matt loves all of the construction here, above is a brick man hole.Below is a man waving as we take his photo.

 More school children.

 A wallpaper and decorating store.

 This is how ladies take their kids potty, right there on the street by a tree. These are babies. I am pretty sure Adalynn is used to this but, we are doing diapers.

A common sight in all of the countries we have been to.

It's Official!

 Yes, she still hates me, but, really how could I not love this face. As cute as this coat is we have still gotten a lot of Chinese woman all upset because they don't think she is warm enough. It's cold here, but, not that cold, they think babies should be dressed like Eskimos!

 She does not like anyone to touch her other than Daddy, she was not loving the fingerprinting.

 Yes, she is screaming because I am in the picture.

 The Magnusens!! Amber, Jesse, Jamin, Emet and Baby Glory!

 Photo with a nany and the orphanage director.

 

Adalynn loves to eat!!

 

Yesterday we was the day we officially adopted Adalynn..or at least I think it was, we are so grateful to our guide, because otherwise we would have no clue what is going on. We were at a Civil Affairs office in China wher we filled out paperwork, had an interview asking if we still wanted to adopt Wu Yuanke, YES! We did fingerprints and pictures. The best part was meeting up with our friends Amber and Jesse Magnusen and their boys. (If you don't know this incredible story, you can look at a previous posts) We adopted our Ethiopian boys together and here we are in the same province in China getting our girls on the same day!

What an adventure, after the civil affairs we went to the police station. Then we had lunch at a great restaurant, our guide did not eat with us, thank goodness we had Jesse and Amber, who speak some Chinese. Because, there is NO English spoken here, and oddly enough the universal language of charades doesn't help much.

However, dinner last evening was a bit more of an adventure. Our 3 families decided to stay in and eat at our hotel.First, we had trouble even explaining that we were there to eat. They put us in a room by ourselves, and showed us pictures of the food. Matt had a Mandarin translation book, but, it didn't help us get any water, however, when he found the word for beer, the whole room of Chinese people burst giggled, and came back with beer. Even though we are really tired of authentic food and are craving Pizza Hut, the beef noodle soup we had was very good and so was the "meat" whatever that was. Hopefully, it wasn't the sparrow intestines that were listed on the menu. We have all given up on manners when it comes to the chopsticks. The Chinese servers did go get the hotel manager that speaks about 3 words of English to help. We could tell that they were really amused with us! No matter nwhat, we had a lot of good laughs!

Adalynn still doesn't want anything to do with me. Though she has let me feed her a little bit. We were happy that she refused to go to any of the Chinese orphanage people. She seems really attached to Matt. I wasn't expecting this at all, but, I WILL win her trust and love. I just don't know when. Fo now we will keep her as happy as possible while she grieves.

Adalynn is happy when we are out and about, but, HATES our room, and spent many hours screaming yesterday afternooon. She loves to imitate, and brings Matt his backpack telling him she is ready to go.

We gave her a bath last night..which she hated, don't blame her since water here is only luke warm.

She eats well. The only way she seems able to drink is through a syringe or a spoon. I really wish I would have brought a syringe over 4cc. But, it's working and she seems competely familiar with this method.