First full day in Guangzhou 2 of 2

I love these pics of Claire and Leslie. The third pic is out us and our friends at a family style Chinese dinner that Leslie talked about.

 

First full day in Guangzhou 1 of 2

Hello All~

Well, our first full day was just that, a full one.  We had breakfast that was fantastic, then we had to head to the clinic for medical exam day.  That is an organized mess!  Claire did great, but the whole experience is just exhausting.  The doctors said that she is malnourished and needs more physical interaction and stimulation....hmmmm, shocking!  Her hearing appears to be ok, so that's a relief.  I'm still convinced there is  a great deal of ear wax that will need to come out ASAP, and that will help her a lot.  She is now 17.4 pounds, so we are up 4 more ounces. Yes!  We then made the trek back by bus and got a bottle and fruit.  Then we headed outside to the play area and she LOVES to swing!  She just sits and smiles!  It was so hot outside it feels like sitting in a sauna.  We headed back inside and Chris had to go to a paperwork meeting.  Claire and I rocked and played with toys.  We painted her toenails and changed clothes.  She now will kiss me when I ask for it!!  Oh, how my heart is overflowing with love for this child!!!  We went to a traditional Chinese dinner with our friends, and that is enough of that!  Chris loved it-me-not so much!!  We walked back, got little Missy a bath, then rocked her pretty much to sleep.  She still won't let me rock her to sleep, but she did cry when I went to take a bath.  She is starting to want her mommy!  Yeah!!  Oh!  And she LOVES pancakes!! We are so ready to come home.  We miss our other kids so bad!  I think she MAY be starting to turn when we say her name.  She is so precious!  Thank you, again, for all of the help going on back home, for the wonderful words of encouragement and scripture, and for your prayers.  We sure are blessed with wonderful friends and family! 

Travel day - Lanzhou to Guangzhou

Today we packed up, ate breakfast and headed to the airport. We ran into another couple that we had met in Lanzhou at the airport. They are with another agency and had spend all week by themselves as they were in a different hotel. Super nice couple from Minnisota and they are adopting a little 2 year old boy. All three couples were on the same flight and are now in the same hotel in Guangzhou. We all got settled and met up for dinner. Any guesses where we ate? It was unanimous! McDonald's!! Right across the driveway from our hotel. Little Claire was a trooper today. She was soo good. She laughed and played all day and didn't even get a nap. The flight didn't even phase her, which is great news since we have roughly 16 hours of flying to get home. Our friends little guy, Anthony, got a little sick on the flight, but was in good spirits. We got in, un-packed a little, went to eat, did a little shopping, then came back to the hotel to clean up and unwind. So the little doodle was up until almost 9. She continues to progress in many areas. We are starting to have some concerns about her hearing. We know she can hear some but may have reduced hearing due to 4 years of wax build up. Or...maybe she still isn't used to someone directing noise towards her. Whatever the case, we trust that God has it under control. She is super lovey. She likes to snuggle into you, hug your neck, touch you, and kiss you. The kisses are pretty sloppy...it's more of a lick, but still super precious and I'm not about to turn down her kisses...my cheek will dry.  :-) She is really getting fond of her momma! No surprise there! How could she not be? Well, it's been a long day, the girls are already crashed out. I'm now fighting a cold...yeeha! Thank you nasty, dirty, smoggy Lanzhou! So I'm turning in. Enjoy the pics. Getting ready to head to the airport and crashed out in Guangzhou.

Day 7 Lanzhou pics

Precious girl sleeping. I love the little swirl in her hair. The start of a daily street market. A shot of the fish tank in the hotel lobby.

 

Hello Friends and Family~

Let me first start by giving a huge, heartfelt "THANK YOU" for all of the wonderful scripture and encouragement that you have been sending us.  Wow!  What a difference it makes knowing that others understand and support what is going on in your life. And feeling the powers of prayer and God's provision and grace, mercy and healing.  We are so in love with our God!!!

Next........drumroll please.......Claire has gained 2 pounds!!!!!!!  That's with poops and everything!!!!  She is doing great!!  She is starting to really brighten up when she sees us or when we play with her, and she's really taken off with playing with toys.  She is just a joy! She smiles quite a bit now, and even teases us a little bit.   We know that this is still a long road ahead of us, but what a gift to see improvement so quickly! 

Our friends little boy is doing great.  They were able to drain the infection and clean the area then he sat for three hours two days in a row to get iv antibiotics, and he is all done now!  He is SUCH a good, happy, smart boy!  They are in for the joy of a lifetime with him!  We just love our new friends!

Well, we leave here, this horrible province, in a few mins, and none too soon.  We will go down and have breakfast then leave for the airport, about and hour ride, then a two and a half hour flight to Gounzghou.  Yay!!!  I'm a little scared about the flights and new rooms and all that...its more than she can understand.  But, it is what it is.  Also, not sure how or why  the typing looks like this, sorry. 

We bought Claire some shoes, as all of the shoes I brought her are way too big.  She can walk if you hold her fingers and she can stand up against the bed for long periods of time. She seems to know what walking is. We feel that she will walk before too long, she just never had the energy or ability to practice to do so.  She may have even signed "more" to me yesterday!  I have been teachig her signs, and when I took her juice bottle she threw a little fit and then did what looked like the sign for "more"!  She's brilliant!!  :-) :-) :-)

Love, many thanks, and hugs to all,

Chris and Leslie

Day 6 in Lanzhou

 Pretty quiet day today. We ate breakfast by ourselves as our friends had to take Anthony back to the hospital to have his toe worked on. They were gone most of the day, so we didn't do much. Hung out at the hotel and got Claire a nap later in the afternoon. We checked up on our firends a couple of times to make sure that everything was going ok and it was. They ended up not cutting on the toenail, and lanced the pocket and drained the infection, but then kept them to run antibiotics through an IV...3 bags. Jeesh! The down time was a good opportunity for a photo op of little Claire. Daddy played with some settings on the camera. When the Pellegrinos's got back, the dad's made the couple of block trek to the Pizza Hut again. Yum! We may have then journeyed down to the lobby and purchased little cups of Hagen Daz(sp?) ice cream.

 

Little Claire continues to make make improvements. She did quite a bit of standing today and took a few more steps while holding on to momma. We got some more laughs out of her and she continues to play more with her toys. Just as I have been praying, daily progress.

 

Now early to bed. We didn't get much sleep last night. We have another down day tomorrow and the Pellegrino's have to take Anthony back for a second round of IV antibiotics in the morning.

Day 5 in Lanzhou

We start every day with breakfast in the hotel where they serve some Western style food. We have kind of gotten in the routine of going down about 9 with the Pellegrino's and we shut the place down (they tear down at 10). We all then headed out for the day in search of panda shoes for Anthony. We found his shoes and were then in search of another department store that we heard about. It always proves interesting. As usual, we get a lot of stares. We made our way to the other shopping area and found it to be an upscale are that was quite expensive. We did however find our way into a Pizza Hut for a late lunch! Yum! A little piece of home! We also stumbled upon what appeared to be a Christian church. That was about it. Nothing too exciting. We headed back for a much needed nap. The air quality is just terrible!!!  It's better to just stay in the hotel, so that's what we do a lot.  Claire is getting more responsive all the time.  She still has a very short attention span, but if no one talked to you for four years, you would, too.  She has started to show signs of playing with her toys and that is very encouraging.  She weighs 15 pounds.....I can't say it enough times...we think we were sent here to save her life.  Knowing that is incredibly overwhelming.  Incredibly humbling, but for me (Leslie) incredibly scary.  Please pray for me, for my ability to take captive the thoughts, to hold fast to the truths that God  has shown us all along this journey.  My heart is broken for my daughter.  The things of her past that I cannot change, but I am having a very hard time facing them.  Chris is my rock.  How one man can have so many wondeful qualities and strengths is beyond me.  He has had to litterally hold me up at some points of this journey.  I look at Claire and am heartbroken.  I HAVE to get to a point where I can look at her and smile and see the future, not the past.  I'm trying.  I have gotten her to laugh a few times today, so that's wonderful.  We are planning to look hot and heavy into the ability to change her birth year to 2011.  Melisa  Chambers, can you work on that for me?  You know you're my computer/information guru.  We think this is important.  I know it sounds stupid, but I can ALMOST wrap my brain around this if I think of her as a one year old and not a four year old.  SO if you are my friend, please don't ask me how old she is.  It's too painful.  Maybe someday I can face these facts, but for today, this is my plan.  I am DREADING taking her to the doctors......what I'm afraid I will hear is going to be so hard.  I was so looking forward to taking Jack to the doctors, but this is so different.  I'm not sure if we will have her admitted right away or not....probably so....all I know is that her health is the MOST important thing right now.  I have to keep telling myslef that she has survived on almost nothing for this long, she will be ok 'til we get her home.  There are a few songs that are ministering to me the last few days.  One is "Your Hands" by JJ Heller, the other is "Beautiful Things", by Gungor.  "Beautiful Things" is the song that God laid on my heart for her a long time ago.....never dreamed it would be this accurate.  This area is filthy.  It is a contradiction of modern and overwhelmingly backwards.  But, she did have her first bowel movement, which is a huge relief, and she is eating well.  Thank you, every one of you, for your words of encouragement.  I read them every morning and cry and cry.  I need every verse that you send, every positive thing that you point out.  I am very ashamed of myself right now....I know I should be rejoicing, and in some ways I do, but I am as low as I've ever been, and I am drawing off each of you right now.  Please don't let up when we get home.  We need all of you to do what God is asking us to do for this tiny, precious, amazingly beautiful little girl. Thank you for your love and prayers.  We can feel them, and please keep them coming.  We have 10 longs days to go.  Also, please pray for our travel companions' little boy, Anthony Zihou, as he has had to be treated for an infected ingrown toenail and it's been a very hard, scary ordeal.  They are wonderful!!!  God sent us friends that will last a lifetime on this trip, and their love for and acceptance of Claire had been remarkable.  It feels like we have known them forever.  They have helped us with her and helped keep me moving forward.  God is sooooo good and they are a true gift and highlight of this trip.  We miss our other kids so bad.  There are so many things about Chinese adoptions that I don't like, and being away so long is at the top of the list.