March 17

We had a special day today in the eyes of the United States. We had a ceremony and an oath at the American Consulate stating that we promise to be Macy's parents. She will officially become an American citizen when we land on US soil in Newark, NJ. We took the oath with around 30 other families adopting healthy and special needs children. We have met some of them either shopping on the island, in our hotel, or riding on the dinner cruise the other night. It is interesting to hear their stories of how they came to China to adopt. One of the mothers said, "it is so cool to see how each child is perfect for the parents and their family." Well, yeah! I am so thankful that the Lord had His hand in our lives and this journey of adoption. I would have never imagined my life would look like this at 32 years old but He did! My favorite verse is Jeremiah 29:11 and thankfully it states that "He knows the plans that He has for my life."

Have I mentioned that we are ready to get home?!? I may mention it a few more times before we get back! Please begin praying for our trip back to the states. We will begin at 5:00 a.m. on Friday morning and be at our destination at 10:30 p.m. on Friday night. We will be traveling over 30 hours from start to finish. We have a few long layovers and of course the 14 hour flight with an active 2 year old. If you remember back on our blog, the trip from Nanjing to Guangzhou was not a pleasant one. Macy had a 30 minute meltdown on the plane. We don't want any of those on the 3 different flights. Just pray for her, us, and the people on the flight! :)

We attached pictures of the American Consulate and Macy in her traditional Chinese dress. We went to the White Swan Hotel to take the famous "Red Couch" pictures. It is a tradition that all adoptive families take pictures of all the girls in the travel group on the couch. Not all the girls were excited about the famous picture. Macy couldn't quite figure out what was going on and just kept staring at all the crying girls. When we put her in her dress, she loved picking up her dress so she could see her belly. During the pictures, she decided to pull up another friend's dress also. We were all laughing at her! Enjoy the pictures! We are ready to come home! See I said it again! :)

March 16

We had our American Consulate appointment today. Our guides go to the office and give all of our paperwork for us to bring Macy home. They said that our paperwork was perfect and they were very proud to not have any questions about us. Yeah! So, we go tomorrow for a ceremony and take an oath to be Macy's parents. (In the eyes of the United States)

After lunch, we headed back to Shamian Island to pick up a few more gifts for our family and friends. We had a fun afternoon with beautiful weather for sightseeing around the park. We also went on the Pearl River Dinner Cruise with the other families from our agency. We had a Chinese buffet where I ate duck again, some rice, and noodles. Jason, on the other hand, enjoyed all different kinds of meats and traditional Chinese dishes. He is very brave when it comes to eating foods. Macy also ate a lot of different food tonight. She outdid Mama! When we got done with the meal, we could go on the balcony and check out the city at night. It was beautiful! All of the buildings and bridges had unique lights to show off the skyline. Macy loved looking at all the lights. On the way back to the hotel, Macy somehow went to the bathroom on me. I don't know if it was the way she was sitting on me that it went through the diaper or what. All I know is that my legs and the back of pants were soaking wet from her. Yuck! I hope that the driver cleans out his tour bus tonight. Of course, her and Jason were laughing at the whole situation but Mama was not!

We are counting down the days until we are back with the boys as a family of 5! We both woke up this morning ready to get home. We have had an amazing time in all the cities but we are just ready to be able to brush our teeth in the sink (and not use bottled water to do it), sleep in our own bed, watch the kids play in the playroom, wash clothes in my house, etc. China is an incredible place with rich culture, unique food, and authentic people. Enjoy the pictures!

March 15

We went sightseeing this morning at a local park with a few memorial sites of famous Guangzhou people. The park was beautiful with all kinds of statues, flowers, unique trees, people playing hackey sack, dancing, and tai chi. it was neat just watching the people and seeing the culture of Macy's birthplace. One of the pictures is of Jason and Macy on top of a tower that we climbed to see the city.

After lunch, we returned back to the medical exam to get the results of Macy's TB test. The nurse measured the mark and it was 8 mm. It was negative because the mark was not 10 mm. Thank goodness! I would have loved to see them hold her down for a chest x-ray. We then spent the afternoon doing some shopping at some famous souvenir shops on Shaimin Island. We got Macy a traditional Chinese dress and also got the boys a traditional outfit. (Mom, don't tell them this part!) We had a fun afternoon with some funny stories to tell in person. It would take too long to type out all the craziness. We are going to be seasoned travelers before this trip is over.

We have to stay in our room in the morning because our guide is taking our information to the American Consulate to grant us permission to enter the United States with Macy. We have to stay in our room just in case they have any questions. Then, we are planning on going on the Pearl River Dinner Cruise with our group. That will be fun! :)

March 14

Ni hao ya'll! We got to sleep in again this morning. Macy didn't get up until 8:20. I guess we wore her out last night in the play room and walking all over the place. We had another wonderful breakfast with some new friends that adopted a special needs baby. We are the only ones in our group that are special. (really)
We just had 1 thing on the agenda this morning and that was filling out some important paperwork. Since Macy doesn't want me out of her sight, Jason was in charge of the paperwork. I gave him the rundown of everything that I brought with us and sent him on his way. He only had to call 1 time to find out where I was born so he did really good. We ordered pizza from Papa John's for lunch. It tasted very similar to ours in the states except it was a lot greasier. Macy ate a little bit but preferred the crust over the sauce.
After supper, we went walking around the city with Macy in her stroller. That was the first time that she has sat in it without throwing a fit. Big breakthrough! We walked around for about 1 hour checking out a Lamborghini store, a shopping mall, and the subway. It is good to just get out of the room for awhile. Then, we let her take a bath for about 35 minutes to just play around in there. The tantrum when we got out of the tub was not as long as before. I think that she is understanding that we will get in there several times a week.
Each day brings new discoveries and new challenges with Macy. Adopting an older child (2 years old) with special needs is a different ballgame than adopting a healthy infant. Each option has their own set of challenges and obstacles and we are dealing with them the best way that we know how. It is tough being a parent in general especially adding on the ingredients of an older child that is strong-willed, our communication barrier, and the hurt that she feels from being torn from the only place that she has known. Even with all those challenges, nothing beats her running to me and giving me a hug around the neck, smiling from ear to ear, laughing out loud at Baba, and getting excited about the little things that we take for granted. I know that the Lord has brought us to this place for this time. We are continually amazed at how she fits in perfectly with our family. We love her so much!
We have to go back to the medical exam office tomorrow to check the results of Macy's TB test. If it comes back positive, we will have to get a chest x-ray and then determine what our next step is in the process. We pray that it comes back negative and then we don't have to go down that path. Until next time...

March 13

We slept in this morning until around 7:30, got everyone ready, and went to the breakfast buffet at our new hotel. The buffet was incredible! It had all kinds of American style breakfast foods so I ate until I couldn't eat anymore. We came back to the room for Macy's bath before her medical exam. She absolutely loves the bath and doesn't want to ever get out. So, we had another minor meltdown because Mama had to get her out of the tub. The girl likes to be clean! :)

We met up with all of the other adoptive parents from our agency when we came to Guangzhou. All of their children were from this province so they have been here all week. We loaded the bus for the dreaded medical exam. Every adoptive child has to go to this place in order to leave the country. (by American law) They check their height, weight, head circumference, eyes, ears, throat, and look over their bodies for marks. Because Macy is over 2, we also had to get a TB test. The TB test was the easiest part of the whole exam. She held a piece of candy and they did it very quick. The other parts were not so easy. We had to talk with several doctors about Macy's special need. She had to do some extra exercises for the doctors to get an accurate report for the USA. Overall, it wasn't as bad as I thought but she surely showed the nurses and doctors that she is a feisty girl that will fight back when you mess with her.

After our medical exam, we had some free time to check out the area and shop. Because our exam took longer than everyone else's, we just had time to eat lunch at Lucy's Restaurant and get on the bus. Lucy's is a famous restaurant on the Shamin Island that has American style food. So, once again, I ate and ate and ate. We came back for Macy to take a nap. After dinner, we found a playroom for Macy to release some excess energy from being in the room. She loved all the balls in the room so she will fit right into our family. She played with many balls during her therapy sessions so she got a good workout in tonight.

Tomorrow, we will relax and fill out some important paperwork for Macy to enter the United States. Enjoy the pictures of today.

March 12

It will be a short entry because we are headed to bed. We made it to Guangzhou at around 7:30 tonight and we are staying at a really nice hotel. Macy did well with the plane ride the first hour and then decided that she would scream the last 40 minutes of the trip. She didn't want me to buckle the seat belt and made it known by throwing a 2-year old tantrum. Needless to say, everyone was standing up trying to figure out what the Americans were doing to this child. After getting many stares and advice on how to calm her down, we finally heard silence when we were leaving the airplane. We knew that she was a strong-willed child from her medical report and orphanage history but this was like nothing that I have ever seen. Then, about 2 minutes after the ordeal, she was laughing and playing with us. Interesting?!? Her personality will fit in perfectly with our other 2 strong-willed boys. The most important thing of all is that they also have 2 strong-willed parents and that beats them all. Ha!!!

We got settled into our room in time to head to McDonald's for supper and put Macy in bed at a decent hour. We have her medical examination in the morning and that should be real interesting. I told Jason we are working so hard on her trusting us as her parents then we take her to get poked and prodded the whole morning. The good thing is she will probably not even remember it. Sorry about no pictures today but we will make up for it tomorrow.

March 11

Ni hao! We went to the Nanjing Brocade Silk Museum and Factory this morning. It was amazing to see the old-fashioned looms making all kinds of silk items. One fact that we learned at the factory was that it takes two workers 8 hours to make 2 inches. Crazy?!? We got to see the workers in action, see beautiful clothes from the emperors, and buy a piece of artwork for the house made right in the factory. (picture included of factory)

Next, we headed to a Memorial for the 300,000 Chinese that died when the Japanese attacked in 1937. In the memorial building, they placed the remains (bones) of about 10,000 Chinese. There were statues on the outside that depicted different scenes from the invasion. The statues made you feel the pain and anguish that the Chinese people felt when this occurred. Our guide said that it was still hard for her to visit knowing what people went through during the attack. (picture included)

After the memorial, we went to the Confucius Temple area to look around again. We took our guide to help us buy some souvenirs and bargain with the vendors. At night, all of the temple area is covered in lights and they have a fireworks show at 7:30 each night. We have an amazing view from our window of all the fun.

We went to eat with our friends from TX at a Chinese restaurant. No one speaks English so we got our guide to write down what we wanted to eat. We took the piece of paper in and gave it to our waitress. They brought different dishes out to our table about every 4 minutes. We enjoyed the company and the good food. (picture included)

Macy started out the day kinda rough. She had a hard morning and then after her nap this afternoon it is like we have a different child. She is running around the room just laughing at everything that we do. She is warming up to Baba in the room of course. I still had to hold her during all the sightseeing today because she doesn't want anyone else touching her out in public. We were laughing saying that I am going to have huge muscles when we get back. It is not easy on your body carrying a 25 pound girl everywhere. The good thing is it won't last long because she will slowly get used to everything. We have to remember that she hasn't been out in public at all in her 2 years of life. So, everything is a new, exciting, scary, and fearful adventure. We can't wait for her to experience all the new things in life with us. Wow!!!

March 10

We were able to do some sightseeing today with our guide. We went to the Zhonghua Gate that is famous in the city of Nanjing. It is similar to the Great Wall of China in its structure and purpose. We were able to go through tunnels that told stories about different dynasties, emperors, and famous people of the city. We watched a video about the city and learned a lot about the province.

Our guide, Cai, then took us to a shop that sold jade and freshwater pearls known in this province. I wanted to buy Macy something for when she turned 16 and then again when she got married that was unique to her birthplace. Nanjing is known as the jade capital in China so that would be something special to give her. We went to a private viewing room with all kinds of jade items and pearls. We bought a jade bracelet that I well wear until we give it to Macy when she gets older. We also bought a pearl necklace and earrings for her to wear on her wedding day. So neat!

We came back for lunch and Macy took a nap. She woke up from nap very upset. With being in an orphanage, the children grieve differently depending on their attachment to the nannies and the age of the child. I feel that we have had 2 good days with her and now she is starting the grieving process which is very healthy for her to deal with quickly. We will ride it out with lots of hugs and tears. she is very attached to Mama right now and doesn't want much to do with Baba. So, I am dealing with all the meltdowns right now because she doesn't want Baba to console her. I can tell that very soon she will be a Baba's girl. She admires him from a distance and will play with him as long as Mama is around her.

We met an adoptive family from TX that adopted a little girl that turned 1 today. We went to her birthday party this afternoon and went out to eat with them tonight. They also have a little girl that is 5 years old. We had a good time with them and made plans to eat with them tomorrow night. We will also fly to Guangzhou with them on Friday.

We tour again tomorrow and start packing for the next city on Friday. Pictures: Zhongua Gate, Year of the Tiger 2010, Macy, after signing to be Macy's legal parents

March 9--Forever Family Day

Today, we officially became a family of "5"! We are parents of 3 children! That sentence in itself became very real to me today! The Lord has blessed us beyond words and we are so thankful for this amazing opportunity to be ALL their parents! In the eyes of China, we are Macy's parents. We went back to the Jiangsu government building to complete the rest of the paperwork and pay the money to the orphanage. she doesn't like to ride in the van that we are traveling in so she wasn't happy when we entered the building. Her nannies and the orphanage director were there today and were trying to cheer her up. Throughout the whole process, she was getting upset over a variety of things. (being told no, not getting to play, not getting to write with a pen) So, when we were done with everything, the nannies and the director were telling her bye and she was trying to figure everything out. It was very heartbreaking watching them leave waving bye and blowing her kisses. I know that they loved her very much and took good care of her. We are so thankful.

We also received some very special documents from the orphanage director. We got a photo album of recent pictures of her at the orphanage, a scrapbook of information/pictures from an early age, her finding ad (priceless), and a traditional Chinese gift. All these pieces will help her as she gets older and understands the whole concept of adoption.

We went to McDonald's for Macy's first experience of the big arches. She ate about 1 french fry and was done with the whole experience. We picked her up some noodles, eggs, and meatballs at Mi Noodle. She has not stopped eating since we picked her up yesterday. She is one healthy little girl.

After lunch, we decided to conquer bath time. In the adoption world, people say that this is a hard thing because most of them have never been in the water. I got my bathing suit on and started the water. Jason brought her into the bathroom and her eyes lit up. We got her undressed and put her in. She absolutely loved it. She was even okay with me washing her hair. We played for about 15 minutes and it was time to get out. Instead of throwing a fit getting into the water, she threw her fit because she had to get out of the water. Interesting!?!

We have been playing all day and her personality continues to come out. She is for sure a take charge kind of girl and I can see her telling her brothers what to do! It will be so fun when they all get together at home. We do some sightseeing tomorrow and find out some more about the Jiangsu province.

Pictures: Baba feeding Macy noodles with chopsticks (impressive)

Macy in the bathtub

Us with the orphanage director and 2 of the nannies

March 8--MACY DAY

Wow! What an amazing day! We woke up early this morning anxious about what today might bring for us. We ate the breakfast buffet in the hotel, got ready, and talked with both families before meeting Cai in the lobby. Our taxi driver took us on an incredible drive to the Jiangsu government building where we would meet Macy. (the driving is another story in itself) We arrived a few minutes early to the office. As we walked into the building, I could fill my heart pounding as we rounded the corner. We saw another family receiving their daughter from the same province. I looked to my left and saw the most precious little girl in the arms of a lady. When the little girl turned around, it was Macy!

She was dressed in some beautiful Chinese attire, 3 pairs of pants, and 3 shirts. We had to do some preliminary paperwork before they brought her to us. She walked right to Jason to look at a book beside of him. She was just going from Mama to Baba looking at us, playing with the book, and talking on the phone. After some more paperwork, we got an official family picture taken for the orphanage director and the government. We were able to ask the nannies and the director about her schedule for eating and sleeping. We were even able to talk with a nanny that assisted her in the therapy program at her orphanage (what they call recovery). We will find out some therapy exercises that they are using for her right hand. After being with her awhile, you can see some delays in her right foot and her right hand. She can walk and use her right hand when she wants to. We will just want to encourage her to use it at all times.

After the nannies and director slipped out when she wasn't looking, we headed to the store to buy some formula and food. She still drinks formula out of a bottle and wears diapers (but can go on the potty when put on there). She cried a little every time that we got into our van. The director said that she didn't like riding in the van at all. Hopefully, that will get better with time. She has been having a great time at the hotel playing with blocks, hugging her doll, and coloring in her books. Even though we have had a great day with her, we expect some type of grieving to happen very soon. We tried to go out to eat tonight and she started to cry and panic a little bit because we were leaving the room. We decided for Jason to go get us food instead of causing too much more craziness in one day. We will go back to the Jiangsu government building in the morning to complete the adoption process to make her our daughter. Of course, we have other steps to take before we get home, but this is the major one!

I hope that you enjoy the pictures of Macy Day. She is precious and her personality is coming out with each passing hour. We love her and can't wait for her to understand that Mama and Baba are here forever! :)

P.S. Landon was able to see her on Skype when we got back to the hotel. It was 11:30 p.m. his time and he got up to watch Macy play around the room! I asked, "Landon, what do you think of Macy?" He said, "She is pretty good!"

March 7

We want to thank April, Jason's sister, for updating the blog for us. We can't blog over here due to restrictions that we don't know about. I am writing it and having her do the rest for us.

We started our morning at 4:15 to get ready to leave for the airport. We flew to Nanjing, the city where we will get Macy. Our guide, Cai, told us all about the beautiful city of Nanjing and told us the itinerary for the week. The first thing that she said is that we will meet Macy at 10:30 on Monday morning. I got chills all over when she said that to us. It was really going to happen in the next day. We have prayed for this time for almost 3 years and now we are less than 24 hours away from meeting her. Amazing!

Cai helped us check into our spacious room where we will be for the next 5 days. I quickly started to get all the things ready to meet Macy. She has a little backpack that has bubbles, a phone, blocks, stickers, goldfish, and cheerios to try and help her feel better when she comes to us. We got the orphanage director and the nannies' gifts together so we can give it to them tomorrow. Yeah!

Most of you know how picky I am when it comes to food. I have not been eating the best so I have been having headaches (which I never have). After settling into the hotel, we went in search of the McDonald's. I ate and ate and ate until my headache was gone. I vote that we eat there at least once a day! :) We are in Nanjing by ourselves so we stick out like a sore thumb when walking down the streets. It is so funny to see the looks and hear the whispers about us. Of course, we just act like we know what we are doing and have been here forever. Hopefully, we can get a good night's rest before getting Macy Renee Xi Allison in the morning! Look for pictures tomorrow! :)

P.S. Landon and Brady are doing great with my Mom and Dad. They have already been bowling and Landon scored an 82! Yeah! :)