Pre-Naomi

I apologize for not posting any video yet. I am having difficulties and hoping to figure it out soon. I've been having a lot of fun capturing it all so I hope I get a chance to share it. We hopped on another plane to Nanchang today. It was only an hour and a half flight, which was nice but... until you experience being in an enclosed area with a hundred or more Chinese you won't be able to relate. It is so noisy! They all talk, all the time, loud and fast. The closest I can come to describing it is the lunchroom at the elementary school. For someone with A.D.D. (that's me) it's like someone who's claustrophobic getting a CAT scan.The flight was a domestic flight so we got to experience a little of the culture. Instead of peanuts or pretzels for the snack on it, we got a little bag of roasted green peas. I found them quite tasty. Similar to corn nuts without the tooth chipping hardness. Another treasure I discovered on the flight was the Chinese barf bags. Those who know me well, know that I have a warped sense of humor and so these are wonderful gift bags in my world. Nanchang is quite a bit different from Guangzhou. It's more like a big city even though I think it is smaller than GZ. It is hotter, noiser and busier. I had my first "no toilet paper" experience at the Nanchang airport. Luckily, I had my pocket tissues with me so I was all set. It was odd to go in the stall and not have a dispenser in there. Which reminds me of a funny incident in the bathroom at the GZ airport. I went into a bathroom that only had four stalls and one of them was out of order. There were 3 girls already lined up waiting and it wasn't long before there were another 3 behind me. After about 5 minutes of waiting I noticed the girl in front of me was fanning her nose. No emotion just fanning. About the same time a horrific odor wafted my way. The first girl in line got out tissues and put them over her nose. It was apparent that someone in one of the stalls was having issues. The second girl in line actually had to walk out side to get some air. I looked behind me and two of the girls were gingerly holding their noses. No one made a comment, or showed emotion through the whole thing. I never did see who the culprit was. They were STILL in the stall when I finished my business and left.
Our hotel room is gorgeous. It's an elegant contemporary look and layed out really nice. We got settled in, Mike had to go get some copies made down stairs because the copies we had made at home are too big. Evidently China's paper is smaller so the copies we had made won't fit in the files. We had lunch and now are chillin out until 3:30 when we will leave to go get Naomi. It's so strange to think that in a few hours our lives will completely change. Similar to birth but very different at the same time. We have been praying for her heart to be open in accepting our love and that her adjustment will go well. We will be here for 5 days and then we will head back to GZ. Our interpeter, Pei Dur (Peter), is here with us the entire time which is refreshing. They speak a different dialect here, as well as Mandarin, and not many know English.
After we get her, Peter will take us to a store to get the kind of food she eats. My understanding is that most of the babies eat a rice soup. We have a hot pot in the room for heating the water and they also brought us a big fancy thermos thing too. We should be good to go.
Well, next time I post we will have our new family member. If I can't get the video up, I will at least get a few pictures.

Introducing Guangzhou

Well, Here we are, Guangzhou (pronounced kind of like Gah-wan-joe) China after a grueling flight. I'm already dreading the return flight. Northwest Airlines took us from Flint to Detroit, then we switched planes and flew to Tokyo-12+ hours, about an hour lay over in Tokyo and then it was another 6 hour flight to Guangzhou. I won't go into the details but let's just say a root canal sounds like fun now. So we arrived to the White Swan hotel about midnight. We went to bed shortly after arriving. I have tried to give you a taste of everything we found in GZ on video. Of course I missed a few good opportunities but I think I make up for it with the clip of the "gold digger" I captured in the hotel lobby. Some of the things I couldn't capture were some of the things that we noticed were absent. So far we have found China to be absent of men wearing baseball caps, pigeons, ice in drinks (guess that goes hand in hand with "don't drink the water"),and GM cars. I was pleasantly surprised to find flush toilets, toilet paper & air conditioning. We got daring and went to a shopping mall. So now we can say we did it, and I'm not too interested in doing it again! We even went into the market place where you can work the prices down. Mike got a kick out of the "hawkers" calling me "miss woo-woo" when they were trying to get me to look at their wares. Not sure if that was a compliment or an insult. The coolest thing that happened today when we went for a casual walk around the hotel and ended up in a little store off the beaten path and had a great conversation with a young woman named Judy. She noticed the cross necklace I am wearing and proudly proclaimed that she is a Christian. Which as you might know, is a rare thing in China. She invited us to her church which happens to be close to the hotel. We are hoping to find it next Sunday. This Sunday is our "Gotcha Day" and we will be flying (ugh!) to Nancheng (nan-chang)to pick up Naomi. Today we saw dozens of "round eye" parents with their new babies around the hotel. I was so precious to see these kids just sucking up all the love that was floating around. It was great to see all of their smiles. We are soooooo anxious to finally get to meet our daughter.

The countdown begins!

Yikes! Only 3 more days to blast off! We have been hussling around trying to get everything we might possibly need while in a foreign country. Anticipating our needs has been the biggest challenge. Besides the usual obvious excursion needs we will be bringing plenty of pocket tissues as we hear that toilet paper is a hot commodity in the orient. We also doled out close to $200 for medications that may be needed for Naomi, travel size everything, diapers & snacks. Then we had to buy some new luggage to take it all in! Fortunately, we were able to get a great flight package that is just for foreign adoptions through Northwest that allows us 2 - 70 lb. bags each instead of the measly 1-50 lb. bag allowance. We are flying out of Flint on the 24th and returning to Atlanta on the 8th, then to Flint on the 11th so that we can spend some time with the Fellabaums of the South. Our 11 yr. old daughter, Jo-Jo, is already down there on her annual visit and our 23 yr. old daughter , Brooke, who lives in Auburn Hills, will be joining us in Atlanta as well. It's a 22+ hour flight from Flint to Guangzhou. My legs get "charlies" in them just thinking about it! God has been so good as to give me peace in these crazy pre-Naomi days even when my heart races a little thinking of all that needs to be done before we go.
Check out this website of other babies who have come from the same province that Naomi is from. It's pretty funny. We have a similar picture hanging on our fridge.
http://www.geocities.com/FengChengHelloKittyClub/

Fengcheng, Jiangxi

Population 1.2 million. 333,000 under the age of 15. Famous for a special tea called yun wu cha. Porcelain capitol of China. 80% of industry is agriculture, another 10% is industrial. Approximately 20% of the population is illiterate. These are just a few facts about the city our Naomi has spent the first 11 months of her life in. The most stunning revelation in my research adventure of this little known city in central China is that only 1.5% of the population proclaims faith in Jesus Christ. Most have no idea what God has done for them.

I expected a low number but, WOW, that's incredibly low. Granted most of the figures are from a 5 year old census and Christianity is on the rise. An estimated 15,000 people out of over 1 million. What a sad place this must be. Not to know the love of Jesus and what is to come has to make a city groan with pain.

The literal meaning of Fengcheng is "Harvest City". Which translates to - it's seed planting time! Can't have a harvest without planting a crop! So please pray that we will get the opportunity to plant some hardy seeds in this drought plaqued countryside. Let us quench a thirst for the Living Waters.

Stay Tuned

I know I started this blog years ago - literally, to use to journal our adoption of Naomi with all intentions of getting the hang of this blogging stuff but of course, stuff happens, and so this didn't happen. So bear with me as I take this crash course in blogging. So onward with our adoption progress...
After 3 years, 5 months, & 17 days (I may be off a day or two as my head is spinning with dates these days) we finally got our referral notice that we would be heading to China to get our little doll. The agency told us the process would go something like "wait, wait, wait, HURRY, HURRY, HURRY". For us it has been a little different. More like, wait, wait, wait, wait some more, wait a lot more, wait again, HURRY, wait, wait, wait, HURRY, wait, wait and that's where we are now. We actually have our consulate date (our last appointment in China before we can head home) for August 6th but are still waiting for our CAB date which is the date we to be in China by. We put our 11 yr. old, Jo-Jo on a plane to Atlanta this morning for her annual visit to Nana & Papa. She usually goes a week or two after school gets out but it got scheduled to fit in with the adoption trip this year. It looks like we will be flying to China somewhere around the 23rd so we will have a couple of weeks to get prepared for our new family member.
Naomi is reported to be about the same size, weight as an American baby of the same age. She has been foster care since August 11th, 2007. Which may be why she is not under-developed as many internationally adopted babies are. We are so happy to hear that our prayers for her health and safety have been answered while we were not able to care for her ourselves. The report also stated that she has developed an attachment for her foster mother, which is a blessing in that we know that she does not suffer from an attachment disorder but could also prove to be a hurdle for Naomi's separation from her. We are now praying that God will comfort her in this time of change as only He can.
I am hoping to get the hang of adding video to this blog so that we can share our China adventures with you. So stay tuned !

September Already?

Yikes! What happened to summer? It seems all our camping trips came with a free sample of bad weather so I feel like I didn't even get a vacation. We still have a camping trip or two to take before we put the summer home into storage. Unfortunately we have spent another summer with out our little china girl and still await news to go get her. China has sent referrals to families with LIDS (log in dates) prior to Nov. 24th of 2005. Our LID, if I haven't already said it, is Jan. 4th of 2006. So it may be 2008 before we get to meet our Naomi. Meanwhile God has kept us busy with a new school year starting. Jo is a big fifth grader this year and we are very enthusiastic about the teacher she has this year. She seems to be very much a blessing. Brooke is still at Oakland University, presently taking a break from classes to focus on portfolio work in theater, and living in Auburn Hills. Mike has delved into his flag football league at church on Saturdays and I have taken on a new part time position at a Christian radio station, Smile fm. I am the "Administrative Coordinator". A big title for a modpodge of tasks. I am really enjoying this new path that God has led me to and look forward to advancing his kingdom however he chooses to use me. It is definitely a job that is "right up my alley" as everyone proclaims when I tell them about it. Again I have been blessed with getting paid for something I just love doing! I am incredibly impressed with my co-workers at the radio station, they are all so humble and amazing at the same time.
My Aunt Sue died unexpectantly this past Friday from an advanced case of strep throat. It seems so strange to think a woman who battled and won a fight against cancer twice would come undone from strep throat. She was a daughter of God and I know she is being joyfully rewarded by being in the company of our Savior. My heart aches for her grandbabies who will greatly miss her but at the same time dances for her as my head replays her laughter that I am sure she is echoing up in heaven. I was fortunate enough to have had a recent email with her reminicing of great times we had together. It is a joyful closure. The memories of trying on the dark green velvet dress I wore as the flower girl in her wedding and how the neat bun on my head was perfected with the addition of marigolds tucked into it are still vivid. Although I can't remember my debit card pin, God blesses me by retaining these cherished times. I pray that her daughters will be able to use this unfortunate loss to deepen their relationship with the Father.

Roasting satan like a marshmallow.

Were loading up the camper. Last year we discovered Aloha State Campground in Cheyboygan so we are heading back there. We leave after church on Sunday. I secured a site on the water by the boat basin, almost the same site as last year. A site on the water at Aloha is as close to heaven as I have been. I had remarked to Mike last year that I thought that I this is what heaven would be like except we would be camped next to the Dickersons, the Krols and all of our God Loving friends. Until then God just hands us opportunities to lead others to him. Last year just after we settled in the family that would be camping next to us pulled in. They had a sparkling new 29ft. 5th wheel trailer. It was loaded with all the extras, a couple of slide outs & pulled by a pristine new Ford truck. After they pulled in and started setting up we struck up a conversation with them and learned that they had come directly from another campground where a storm had blown in and detached a bracket that held their awning from the camper. Not a good thing but certainly not a vacation breaker in my mind. We almost had our camper totaled by our insurance company the year before from a similar experience that created a whole lot more damage so sure having to replace a bracket isn't great, making do without an awning is a bit of a pain but like I said it isn't a vacation breaker. Unfortunately these folks didn't see it this way and decided that this would be the theme for the week.
Not biblically based but my feelings are God reveals things to each of us in a way that we can relate and are comfortable with in most cases. So if God wants to reveal things to me he uses my weird sense of humor to make the point. Imagine my reaction when "Ursula the Sea Witch" from Disney's Little Mermaid kept appearing in the doorway of their camper spewing venom out at the kids as her tenacles were sprawling and reaching out then they would recoil back in the door just in time for it to slam with a loud smack. I was a bit put off but my heart ached for her kids that obviously had not been introduced to our Savior. But God is so awesome and put them next to us and they were drawn to the light. The kids, one boy, one girl, were close in age to JoJo. I didn't realize we were making an impact on them until they came back from the campground store with cross necklaces from the gumball machine. Which I was even more impressed with when I visited the store and saw that out of the ten gumball machines offering a variety of tempting treats they chose to put their quarters in the one machine that was filled with cross necklaces. These kids knew there was something different about us, wanted it but weren't so sure how to get it. Obviously they were raised thinking that you could use cash to buy whatever it is that they wanted to make them "happy". This became crystal clear to me when Mike and Jo had gone somewhere and I was sitting at the picnic table painting and listening to a Bill Johnson cd. The little girl came over and sat with me for a little while, I could tell she was trying to figure something out when she blew me over by asking me if I was rich? My mind raced as I thought, "what is she asking?, why would she think I was rich when she can see my camper sitting right next to hers (We have a nice camper but it's not new and it's pretty basic)? Then God gave me the "V-8" smack on the forehead and said,"Hey dummy, You are rich in your faith". God opened the door for me to witness to this child. I planted a seed. I think about these kids all the time and take a moment to pray for them. We are headed back to the same campground about the same time and I'm curious as to whether God will let me see if my seed has sprouted or whether he'll give me some fresh tilled ground to plant another seed.