Oh my heart

Eli is doing wonderful!! He is opening up to both of us more and more each day. He has captured our hearts and we are so thankful that God has entrusted us to be his parents! His personality is really starting to shine. I think he is going to be a lot like his older brother Keenan ... A little stinker! What are we going to do!? Whenever we have been skyping with the kids, Aidan and Keenan usually end up dancing in the background while we talk with Bella or our parents. Silly boys. I think Eli will be right there with them soon! He loves to look at pictures of his brothers and sister. He even brings the pictures up to his face like he is kissing them. So precious!

Daddy is getting smiles now too!

We went back to Shamian Island today. We had heard that a lot of the stores had closed down because the White Swan (hotel we stayed in when we were here with Bella) is being renovated. A few of the stores were gone but there were several familiar ones remaining. The island was gorgeous today! A lot of greenery and parks. The sun was shining and the river even looked beautiful. Some new friends of ours joined us (we just met them and they live only 20 minutes from us ... how neat is that?). We had a great time and Eli just took everything in. He probably only saw the inside of the orphanage most of the time, so he was so curious when he saw the big buildings and the tall trees. I am just so happy that he is no longer there and can enjoy all of the beautiful things that God has created.

Kevin, Gretchen, and Olivia joined us, also from Ohio.

Being on the island brought back so many memories of being here. This is the only city we are revisiting. We saw where Bella had her medical appointment, went to the Starbucks where I can even picture the cute little outfit she was wearing, and also saw the store where she screamed her head off while we tried to get her passport photo taken. This place holds a special place in our hearts.

We found silks for Eli and also found the must have squeaky shoes. We are going out to dinner with other families in our group this evening.

Happy Birthday to Aunt Alyssa in Wisconsin!! We hope you have a fantastic birthday!

We miss our kiddos so much, but are thankful that we have been able to Skype with them frequently. One more week and we will be home!! Much love!!

 

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Happy Day!

We are in Guangzhou! The flight was great and Eli did amazing. The weather is warmer here although a little rainy today. The hotel is very nice and we have restaurants and parks nearby.

This has been Eli's best day yet! He slept really well last night and he woke up happy. He has given us smiles and laughs all day. We are so blessed with this little guy. To see the transformation he is making in just a few short days can only be described as an answered prayer from God. He is playing more and showing us things that he can do. We traveled most of the day today, so I am going to end this post a little short. Here are some pics to share ...

The tongue comes out when he gets super happy!

Our group was so large that we had 3 guides. This is Yisha. Yisha has been with CCAI for 16 years. She was very emotional when she left us and thanked us for giving these children a chance. She was amazing during our entire stay. You can tell she does her job because she truly has a heart for these children.

This was one of our other guides, Vivian. Vivian is the sweetheart that helped me at the hospital yesterday with Eli.

Can he get any more precious?

 

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Chinese medicine, Playtime, and Kung Fu

We all were supposed to go to the Shaolin Temple today, but Eli had a very rough night last night. He coughed so much and woke up crying often. He ended up sleeping on me in an upright position and this seemed to help the cough a little. So needless to say, this momma did not get much rest. I decided to ask Vivian, one of our guides, to take us to the doctor. Michael went with the group to the temple because I did not want him to miss that and I figured Eli and I could take a nap later anyway.

Vivian walked Eli and I to the hospital. This was such a unique experience and one so very different than in the U.S. We walked into the hospital, paid a small fee and received a paper which we took upstairs to the pediatrics office. We walked right into this office with a woman sitting at a desk. A child was being examined and I thought this was a nurse, but this was the doctor. She checked the other little boy out and in a couple of minutes she was listening to Eli and checking his mouth. During the entire time we were there, there were several other people crowding into the room. There is no such thing as privacy here when it comes to medical information. Others listened to the entire conversation and probably thought it was interesting that this foreign woman had a guide to translate and to show me medical terms that had been translated on Vivian's phone. In less than 5 minutes, we had a diagnosis of bronchitis and I was given two options ... 1) have an IV given to Eli or 2) get medicine and go back to the hotel. Vivian and Yisha (another guide) explained to me that the Chinese give IVs because the medicine can be administered more quickly. I was very hesitant to have Eli stuck with an IV, so I opted for the medicine. We went downstairs to the main floor, paid for the dr. visit (which I think totaled something like $9 U.S. dollars) and then went to another window and got the medication. Very quick, in and out, all in one building. We came back to the hotel and thankfully Vivian translated all of the medication for me. He was given 3 medications, one was a Chinese herbal medicine and the other 2 are apparently "Western", but I have never heard of them. Eli took a long nap after lunch (again on me), but I think he is feeling a little better.

We had to get out of the room for a little while, so we went to the playroom again. Eli lit up! It was so awesome to see. He got in the ball pit and loved it! We also played peek-a-boo and he finally smiled at that. I started crawling around on the floor and he started crawling after me and giggling. Praise The Lord! He brought balls to me and even stood up and took a couple of steps on his own.

He also now LOVES his bath! He got in and while I was washing some things in the sink he started giggling and splashing. He was so tickled with himself when he splashed himself in the face. I did not get many pics of him today because Michael took the camera with him, but promise to have more soon! We leave for Guangzhou around noon tomorrow and we are so ready for a change of scenery!

Michael and Eli in the hotel lobby.

Walking with my little man.

 

Michael will be posting an update soon on his adventures to Shaolin temple, but in the meantime, here are a few pictures from today.

Home of Shaolin Kung Fu, thought to be the origin of all martial arts.

 

Pagoda Forest - cemetery for the most prestigious monks

Shaolin Temple - home of Zen Budism

I DISCOVERED THE SECRET TO ZEN BUDISM!!! Love, Peace, Harmony . . .

And oh yes, an iPhone for every Monk?

 

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Lazy Day

Eli is still battling a cough and some wheeziness, so we hung out at the hotel most of the day. He woke up last night in the night crying out and again at nap today. I think I figured out that it is because if he can't see us, he gets upset and scared. I think this is a good thing. We are praying that he soon knows that we are "his people" and can trust us.

We ate breakfast with one of the other moms today who is originally from China, but has lived in Chicago for quite some time. She has 2 boys at home and just adopted a little girl. She told us that many people do not understand why she would adopt and she said that she and her husband have felt led by God to do this ... to be an example for other Chinese people that adoption is an option. I was really inspired by her story. In China if you have a child, you are not allowed to adopt. But if you are Chinese in the U.S., no law is there to stop someone from adopting.

We ventured to the playroom today. Eli was a lot more active there (as long as daddy wasn't watching). He walked all around the ball pit holding on with one hand, sat down, crawled and stood up with little effort. This is the first time we have gotten to see him do a lot of these things. He has his moments when he lets loose and shows us what he can do.

I asked the nannies the other day if he usually feeds himself and holds his bottle because he acted like he didn't know how. The nannies said that he does hold his own bottle and laughed that he wasn't doing it for us. Well, he now is holding his bottle. I think that he was just being a little stinker.

Michael did go out with some of the other dads to grab dinner. He took some pictures along the way that I thought we'd share. Tomorrow we are supposed to go to the Shaolin Temple where it is believed to be the birthplace of KungFu. Will see if we are able to go because Eli's cough is still bad.

Tomorrow will be our last full day in Zhengzhou. We are ready to go to Guangzhou and to be on the last leg of our trip. We are also ready for the warmer temps!!

 

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Peeling an onion

A friend said that our experience so far with Eli is like peeling an onion and I think that is exactly how we feel right now. We have ups and downs; steps being taken forward and then back again. We have to keep reminding ourselves that he really has only been with us for 2 days and to not expect an overnight transformation. It's hard though ... we have loved him so long, but he has no idea why these strange looking, strange talking people are now with him in a strange place.

We had a free day today and we actually had some blue skies for the first time. The smog level is still considered hazardous according to the news, but oh how nice it was to see the sky! We took Eli out for a walk and bought him some shoes. Before we got to the right department I got "yelled" at by a Chinese woman because he did not have enough on his feet (he had 2 pairs of socks on, but here that is not enough). I told her (although she couldn't understand me) that we were buying him shoes.

We walked through a pretty park on the way back to the hotel. There was a little lake and rides for the kids. We got lots of stares. I think it is good that I can't understand what they are saying about us ... it is very evident that they are talking about us. One lady tried to ask me about his lip. I just smiled and kissed him.

I was able to get both smiles and tears today. He tries SO HARD not to smile and we play a game where if I look at him, he looks away and vice versa. He is playing hard to get with us. He seems to be doing a little better with me than Michael. Michael left the room at one point this morning and I was able to get him to give me a few smiles. He loves his back to be tickled!!

Michael ran to Wal-mart this afternoon and I put Eli down for a nap. I walked into the bathroom and he started crying. He had big alligator tears. I picked him up and held him tight and he immediately fell asleep with his arms wrapped around me. I hoped that this meant we had turned a corner, but when he woke up we were back to the somber face.

We pulled out a plastic tablecloth and laid it on the floor (no child should play on these floors - pretty nasty!). We spread out the toys and "ignored" Eli to see what he would do. He started playing and throwing his toys. He was crawling around and acting like he was having fun. When he'd see one of us, he'd stop. (That is getting better now though.)

Eli has been fever free until tonight. He also has a bad cough, but seems to be better since he ate his dinner (he is loving eggs!). Smiles returned tonight after his bath. Michael was able to get some pictures if he hid around the corner and took them through the mirror. Eli won't smile for Michael, but has no problem eating his food :-)

So tomorrow we will try and peel another layer or two from our little onion.

 

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A ladies man

We have gone nonstop today and we are exhausted! Eli woke up with a slight fever and still had diarrhea. His fever quickly went away and he has eaten like a champ today ... Pretty low key stuff like congi and yogurt, but an improvement from yesterday. We think he is on the mend and pray he is over the worst of it.

We went back to the registration office today to finalize the adoption here in China. So as of today, we are officially Eli's parents. We then went to the notary's office for more paperwork and signatures. We came back to the hotel for a quick lunch and then left to go back to Eli's home city, Luoyang. The drive was about 2 1/2 hours each way. We had a driver and our guide, Rita, take us. We went to apply for Eli's passport in Luoyang. It was a very easy process. When we got there, we saw 4 kiddos from Eli's orphanage whose parents are coming next week. They were there to get their visa pictures taken. Michael took pics of all of them to share with their parents at home. One thing we know all too well is that you crave updates and any information you can get about your child.

Eli is officially ours!

Our group (minus one family)

 

After we left there, we went to Eli's orphanage. We are so thankful for this opportunity ... to see the only home he has known for almost 2 years. What we know about his orphanage is that it is the largest one in the Henan province. There are 500-600 children, many of which who are older and may never have the love of a mommy or daddy. There are 6 floors to the orphanage and it was very cold inside. The playroom and his sleeping room were fairly warm, however. We were taken to both of those rooms and it was heartbreaking. There were several little ones just laying on the floor, while others came running to us. There were only a couple of toys in the room. Michael gave the nannies some suckers for the kids and they seemed to love that.

Eli is still very withdrawn, no tears and no smiles. Our guide visits his orphanage a lot and said they see this a lot with the boys from this orphanage. I don't know why, but they said it can take a few days for the kiddos to come around. Our prayer now is that he opens up to us soon because it is so hard to see him just look at us with his big beautiful eyes, but look so sad. He has been reaching for me, so I know that is a good sign.

When we were in the playroom we saw his first smiles when he saw his cribmate. A precious little girl who LOVES Eli!! He just lit up and smiled, but as soon as he noticed us watching, he stopped smiling. I sure hope we get to see that smile again soon, because it melted our hearts.

Eli smiling after getting a kiss from his cribmate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdwmf1X5HoA

His sleeping room was fairly clean and the beds seemed nice. Two kids sleep in each bed and we saw where he and his cribmate slept.

His bed is this center one with the bunny (the Chinese don't reserve pink for girls and blue for boys ... anything goes!)

We took a couple of pictures of the outside of the orphanage and then came back to Zhengzhou.

As I write this, he is in his crib falling asleep. He is "talking" softly(some of the first words we've heard from him) and is very active with his legs. He seems to feel very comfortable in his crib, which is sad to me. We have only put him in there at night because I think he has been in a crib way too much. We have noticed that he rubs his ears to help sooth himself to sleep. Bella still rocks herself to sleep ... a learned behavior from her time in the orphanage. Still hard for me to watch.

We have a free day tomorrow and hope to just spend some quality time with our little man. Goodnight from Zhengzhou!

 

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One less

We want to introduce everyone to Elijah Hexi Garland!!

This is how our day went ... We went with the other eight families in our group to the Civil Affairs office here in Zhengzhou today at 9:30 a.m. Some of the kids were already waiting and it was so emotional to see the kids united with their forever families. There were lots of tears from the kids, parents and those of us standing by and waiting. Gradually many of the other kids came. Such an exciting and overwhelming time!

Our guide told us that the orphanage director at Eli's orphanage was having a hard time getting here because of snow. The roads were closed. (Ugh!) They decided to take the train instead so we would not get Eli until later in the day. Once everyone else received their children, we all came back to the hotel. There was also one other family whose child was coming later in the day as well. We came back to our room without Eli and it reminded me of leaving the hospital without Aidan when he was born because he was in the NICU. Not exactly what "we" had planned.

The other family's son came shortly after 1:00 in the afternoon. Our guide called to see where Eli was, but they still weren't close because the train was delayed by 50 minutes. We went back to our room and waited for "the call" again.

Shortly after 2:00 p.m. our guide called. We rushed down the hall and as soon as we got there, he came off the elevator all bundled up. I tried not to overwhelm him but the orphanage director handed him to me. I expected tears from him, but he has been tear free ... just taking it all in. He easily goes to either one of us.

He is so beautiful! His eyes are so full of expression. He had a high fever, runny nose and a rattling chest when he came to us, so we have started him on Tylenol and the antibiotic that we brought. The guides have been fantastic and willing to get us anything that we need.

We are so blessed to be called to be his parents. He is tiny (18 month pj's are big on him). He is very underweight and has very little muscle tone, but he LOVES puffs and picks several up at a time to get them in his mouth. He has easily fallen asleep on me twice and has enjoyed being cuddled. I know he doesn't feel well, so I do hope that this time of us caring for him helps him understand that we will always care for him and he will never be left alone again.

So today, there is one less orphan in the world, who we now call our son. We are so grateful that God has brought him to us and we are thankful for all the love and support that our friends and family have abundantly given us throughout this entire journey. Aidan, Keenan, and Bella; we miss you dearly and can't wait to introduce you to your new little brother.

Here are some pics from our "Gotcha Day" . . .

He had 4 layers of clothes on ...

Snuggling with daddy after bath time.

Drifting off in Mommy's arms.

 

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