Last night I was NOT feeling well.  I don’t know if it was something I ate, but my stomach was pretty upset.  However, the girls were hungry so we stepped out to find some food.  Luckily, we found a street vendor not far from our hotel who made the bread we have become so fond of eating!

I wasn’t feeling up to eating yet, but Kelly and Riley more than ready for a little nourishment!

They enjoyed their snack on the way back to the hotel.

Later in the evening we went down to the noodle shop in the hotel for a little dinner.

I still wasn’t up for eating, but everyone else enjoyed their meal.  I’m not really sure what Jessie was trying to do in this picture!  Is that a smile?  A grimace?  I have no clue!

This morning I was feeling much better as we drove to the government center to pick up the girls.  While we waited for them to arrive from two different orphanages, Kelly and I did some paperwork.

And then Peyton was the first to arrive!

She did not seem too sure about this situation!

But she warmed up pretty quickly once the plastic tractor was brought out!

And then Madison came rolling in!

She didn’t seem to have the same concerns that Peyton had!

Peyton and I worked on the basics of survival in America … the first bump.  She doesn’t quite get it, but she is getting better.

And Kelly received instructions, translated through Riley, on how to best take care of Madison.

Kelly took a picture with Madison and her China mom along with another lady that came with her.

It was very obvious that this “china mom” was more than just a caregiver.  She loved Madison very much.  This day was going to be a difficult one for her also.

Riley stepped right back into her relationship with Peyton!

We had to take the required family pictures that become part of the official file.

Then it was time to say “good bye.”  It was a pretty emotional time.

Kelly always feels such a great sense of gratitude to these ladies that take on the responsibility for caring for these orphans until we can adopt them.  She spent a few minutes telling Madison’s how much she appreciated all her love and care.

Loading Madison into the van for the first time was a little challenging, especially since she wanted Kelly to carry her and not me.

But we got everyone loaded up and happy before too long!

At the hotel we gave the girls some presents.

The rain pretty much kept us indoors, playing games…

… and painting nails!

Cameron

 

Today was an unusual day for us.  A “free day” so to speak with nothing to do before the new girls arrive tomorrow.  After a wonderful first night of sleep (Riley and Jessie said that they woke up at 4am, but Kelly and I slept until 7am) and a delicious breakfast, we went for a walk. As this is our third visit to Hefei, staying at the same hotel, it was a little surprising that we had never walked the tree-lined paths along the Nanfel River.  We had spent time on previous trips at Xiaoyaojin Park which is across the street (including the infamous carnival ride that Ali and I went on and the more tame bumper car rides that Brittany, Riley, and Jessie went on … you have to read the previous blogs to catch up) but had never walked up the river.  We traveld for a couple miles, racking up lots of Fitbit steps, until we finally decided to turn around and head back.

Before the walk in the park, we tried to figure out our phone situation.  Riley was tasked with getting us to the China Mobile store.

She got us there and the nice gentlemen behind the counter tried to help us out.

We almost thought we were in the wrong place when we walked in as it looked more like a cigarette store!

In the end, we were not able to get our in-country phone working.  It appears that since we were last here 18-months ago there are new restrictions on activating a cell phone.  The government requires either a Chinese ID card or a copy of your passport.  As this was just a little street-side shop, they didn’t know how to activate a line with a passport, so we are still without a phone!

To get around traffic we had to head over to the river on the pedestrian parkway, with Riley asking why China people don’t follow the rules and just cross the street wherever they choose?

I am not sure what exactly this shop is selling, but they have plenty of it!

We were joined with many other families enjoying a sunny, 70-degree day in November!

Some chose to dance in the warmth!

Not only did the path go along road, but at points it went down along the banks of the river.

It was almost tropical at times, which would not be surprising in Guangzhou, but seemed a little unusual in Hefei.

We stumbled across what appeared to be a squatters village underneath one of the bridges.  This looked like it housed a fairly large number of people and was a little out of place along such beautiful pathway.  Kelly thinks maybe it was just an area to play games.

As I said, it is sunny and warm today.  And yet, as it typical, people want to stay warm over here!  They were all bundled up on their scooters, everyone wearing heavy jackets and gloves with some wearing hats or even warm blankets to protect them from the chill!

No reason for this picture beyond the fact that she was combing her dogs fur and it caught my attention!

This guy didn’t complain too much when I took his picture!

Some of the statues in the park were surrounded by beautiful scenery!

We passed an open air market on the way down and decided to walk through it on the way back to our hotel.  We are becoming pros at this travel thing in that we brave places like this, even considering trying some of the food!  If you know Kelly, you know that is a big step!

Fish anyone?

It was reminiscent of the large Tab Binh market in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.  There was meat hanging everywhere, including sausage curing in the warm sun.

There were vegetables …

… spices and nuts …

… and prepared foods.

I am CERTAIN there is a health inspector somewhere!  And although his hand made the picture blurry, he is cutting up pigs feet!

There were just so many great little areas where people were making many interesting food items, including Chinese pancakes.

A mom takes a little break in selling to attend to her own little one.

We had to cut back through several side streets to get back to the hotel, but in all it was a very enjoyable morning!

Cameron

 

Just a quick update to let everyone know we arrived in China safe and sound.  We had very short lay-overs (thankfully!) and so have been on the move all day long!

The girls began their first flight out to Chicago together:

We had to have our usual “Chili’s” lunch stop, which has been a tradition on our first layover for the last several trips.

The sun was just streaming into the terminal at O’Hare.

A few clouds didn’t dampen our travel plans!

Above the clouds it was nothing but blue skies!!

When we got to Beijing, it was pretty socked in with smog and fog.  It was like pea soup out there!  (I would have posted some pictures, but our flight was delayed coming into Beijing and our lay-over was already short so we were moving along pretty well to get through immigration, customs, and get to our next flight!)  Earlier in the day MANY flights were cancelled, but thankfully ours was only delayed by about an hour and we actually made it to Hefei not long after our scheduled arrival date.)

It is 1:30 in the morning local (1:30 PM at home) and everyone is trying to bed down for the night.  We were all pretty tired so am hoping that we can get our internal clocks adjusted quickly.

Tomorrow is a free day of enjoying the city, then we get the girls on Monday, complete paperwork on Tuesday, go to Peyton’s orphanage Wednesday and Madison’s on Thursday, and then head to the airport on Friday!  On top of all that, my niece arrives tomorrow evening!  It will be a wild ride this week.  Stay tuned!

Cameron

 

This morning we got up a little early (remember – China is 12 hours ahead of us) and had Riley call Peyton (Yu Ke) at their orphanage.  Be warned!  This is over two minutes of almost nothing but Mandarin.  However, it IS entertaining to watch Riley (periodically falling into English while making her point) try and find someone to answer, then finally finds a boy who does not know which girl she wants to talk to, then does not want to walk into the rain to find her, then finds a girl that will go get her, and finally we get to talk with Peyton!  She says Hello to BaBa (dad) MaMa (mom) and JiJi (little brother), and at the end she blows Kelly a kiss (battery died on the camera. Of COURSE it did!).

In all, a fun conversation.  She says she is ready for us to come get her and bring her home!  It can not come quick enough!

Cameron

Ok.  That is not true.  NOTHING is packed yet!  But plane tickets are purchased and we leave for China on Friday, November 4.  That is the end of next week!  All those things you thought you had PLENTY of time to finish are now coming due at frightening speed.  Add to that we are spending late evenings filling out paperwork and planning the in-country portion of our trip as we deal with the in-China staff working twelve hours ahead of us.

But we look forward to meeting the new additions to our family!  And Jessie and Riley are looking forward to getting to know their new sisters and vising their old orphanage for the first time since leaving three years ago.  To make things even better, our niece, Taylor, is going to visit us the first week and help with the transition!  She is spending a year in Beijing working at an orphanage.  You can visit her blog at:

https://taylordiatte.wordpress.com/

At this point we are planning to visit both orphanages the first week, which makes for a busy schedule in Huainan.  We will go to Madison’s orphanage one day and then the orphanage of Peyton, Jessie, and Riley (and Ali!!) another day.  Between all the official appointments we have to make and the visits, that week should fly by!

The second week we will travel to Guangzhou to get the girls their medical exams, a consulate appointment, and the required visit to the zoo and circus.  That week looks like it could be a blur also.  Less than two weeks in county almost seems like a vacation when you have been used to staying there just short of three weeks the last two trips.  And the fact that we have stayed in both cities several times before makes planning maybe a little bit easier??

I may not post again until next week, unless something exciting happens.  Prayers continue to be appreciated.  For the girls and the dramatic changes that will be  in occurring in their lives.  For Jessie and Riley that they help with the girls adjustment process and that they are prepared emotionally for their orphanage visit.  And for the kids left here at home.  And a million other things that have to happen in the next ten days!

Cameron

We are out in rural Ohio camping with two other families …

… and we received notice that we our travel approval!  We could be traveling to China in about two weeks!  Will update early next week when we know more!

Cameron

A late night post, but it is morning in China!  We received notice that our Article 5 was approved by the US Consulate.  We should have more information in the morning, but for now this appears to be a big hurdle that we have gotten past.  Next step is Travel Approval, which we hope comes wth the next two weeks.

God continues to be faithful. We are blessed by the prayers con earning this situation. Our departure date is coming quickly!

Cameron

The last several weeks have been filled with all the emotions that are so commonplace with international adoptions.  The emotional highs of the process moving forward and the inevitable disappointments as paperwork gets delayed and items out of your control materialize!

I’m a little embarrassed that it has been so long between posts.  It is like having your first child and you have a million pictures of them doing everything from crawling to eating dirt.  By the time you get to the fourth child you are lucky to find a birthday picture!

This is always an exciting time of year as we have eight birthdays between September 21 and October 22.  In fact, this past week we had four birthdays!  Kelly, Brittany, Luke, and myself all celebrated over the last seven days.

We also found a little time to head out to the beach!  We went down to Orange Beach, Alabama, to spend a week with friends in the sand and sun.

It also gave us the chance to make a couple of stops to see some of the girls that Ali, Jessie, & Riley grew up with in the Huainan orphanage.  On the way down we were able to spend the evening with two families who came up to our campsite on Mount Santo in Birmingham, Alabama.

Then, on the way home, we stopped for lunch in Montgomery, Alabama, as we connected with another old friend and her family.

Now we are in the holding pattern of figuring out when we will be heading to China.  Everything had been moving along pretty smoothly until the U.S. Consulate put a hold on everything this week, requesting additional information for Madison.  This is to be expected as there are ALWAYS some delays in the process.  But the fact that we have to be in China to finalize Madison’s adoption prior to her birthday on December 5 makes the timing especially stressful!

But God has worked through issues like this before, over and over again, and there is no reason to think that He won’t work through this situation also.  We rest in the assurance the He has the best in store for both Madison and Peyton and this little hurdle will only be a chapter in their adoption story.

Thank you to everyone who donated and helped us reach the required matching amount with Brittany’s Hope.  I was a little stressed the other day over finances (again, a common feeling with anyone who has adopted, especially as the time to travel approaches) and then we received a donation to cover all the girls airfare home.  It was another gentle reminder that God has every aspect of this adoption in the palm of His hand.

If anyone still would like a set of Leah’s Note Cards, the are still available here:

http://www.ckbphoto.com/store/

I know I said this earlier, but they are much prettier than what you see on the webpage.  Everyone who has received them has commented on how vibrant and beautiful they are.

Thank you so much for your prayers and your support.  Every child we have adopted has benefited from this and I know that Madison and Peyton will also.

Cameron

I posted that we had received our LOA last week for both Madison and Peyton, but Kelly and I signed the paperwork this weekend.  It was a pretty exciting time, although you can’t really tell that from the somber looks on both of our faces!  Probably just too much to do on a busy weekend with lots on our minds.

I also happened to catch a portion of science class this past Friday!  I am not completely sure how this happened, but Jessie was the one that braved the protective goggles and actually performed the experiment!

Ashely just enjoyed watching from the sidelines … FAR away from any potential explosions!

As soon as we have additional news, I will make sure to post it.  Thank you again for all of your prayers.  We can feel them on a daily basis!

Cameron

Just a quick update to let everyone know that we received our Letter of Approval today for Madison and Peyton.  That means that the clock has now started and we should be traveling to China in the next two months or so!  Very exciting news as it means that the end is coming quickly!

We had Riley call her caregiver in China to see if she could talk to Peyton, but unfortunately she wasn’t at the orphanage and will not be there for another month!  We will have to find another way to let her know we are coming and to not be afraid!

Cameron