Well, it has been a couple of weeks now that we have been home and we are finally starting to feel settled. They say that it takes a day to adjust for every hour difference in time zone. So, with eastern China being 12 hours behind Georgia, 2 weeks is about right. And now that our sleep patterns are adjusted, it is time to mess them up again. School starts in a week and that means getting up a lot earlier. I was really getting used to sleeping in too. Oh well.
Canaan is doing beautifully. It is amazing how much she has changed in just a couple of weeks. She hardly looks like the same skinny little girl that we latched onto in Nanchang. There is some meat on those bones now, and there should be. She eats non-stop. As a matter of fact, last night she had dinner three times. I fed her some sweet potatos, carrots, and yogurt before Mindi and I took her to Third Day's Chronology Volume II DVD premier at Regal Cinemas last night. Then, during the viewing, she ate a half a bag of popcorn and an entire Chik-Filet chicken sandwich. Afterwards, Mindi and I went out for coffee and dessert, and Canaan drank a bottle of milk, ate a bread roll, and had some Ooh Lah Lah ice cream pie. Obviously, she loves to eat, but she is developing well also. Her personality is starting to come out. She smiles all of the time now and boy does she like to laugh. So, we can't help ourselves. We tickle her like crazy and all join in the laughter. She is also jibber-jabbering too. She wants to be a part of all of the conversation and fun at the Avery house. Best of all, in my opinion, Canaan loves music. She dances and sings along to the radio and moves her arms to the beat. She likes rock-n-roll, but yesterday in the car, she went crazy to TobyMac. So, she loves to feel the drums and bass.
If seems as if Canaan is really understanding now that she is part of a family. She lights up when her sisters come into the room, and she really enjoys hanging out together. Sometimes we will all sit on the floor and play with her and she looks around and just beams with excitement. She knows she is loved and she loves to be loved. At times, she has to put up with a lot....with all of us in her face with kisses, and hugging her to death. But, she is so content and easy going. Nothing seems to bother her much.
Canaan is getting stronger every day, and she has already taught herself to flip over on her own. It shouldn't be long before she is crawling and then it will be time to buy a pair a running shoes to keep up with her. We feel so blessed to have her in our lives and thank God for this experience. The pain of having to wait for so long to get her is nearly gone now. The joy of being with her has made it all worthwhile, and God's timing is proving itself perfect as always. Of course it is!
Good evening from China! We almost have one week down of our trip and one more week to go! We are close to the point where we can start counting backwards the days we have left, but we have got to get to single digit numbers first. Brad has been doing a great job of telling you the details of our trip, but tonight I am going to give the "girly version" since I am the only one still awake. I must admit, to be handed over a bundle of life, and in a matter of seconds it is understood that it is our responsibility to take care of, nurture, meet the needs of, raise, support and love this underdeveloped and socially challenged child is quite daunting. The first 24 hours we had her were quite emotional in many different ways. However, it has been nothing short of a miracle to see her thrive and literally come to life these last 4 days. She was handed to us with a blank look on her face, bruises on her body, a runny nose and rattling cough and arms that just flailed in a really weird way. In fact, she was still holding her hands in really tight fists just like a newborn would. God only knows what she has spent the first year of her life doing, not much obviously. It is so sad. But who knew what a bunch of kisses, lots of hugs, a few toys, three hyper sisters running around and a trip to the Super Wal-Mat would do? Her eyes have gone from distant and dazed to darty and curious. Her hands have gone from tight and fisted to open and grabby. Her body movements have gone from awkward and flailing to more smooth and normal. She has gone from pushing us away and not making eye contact when we try to cuddle her to enjoying the closeness and even looking in our eyes. Even today her eyebrows began to move and show expression and the smiles she gives are almost making it to her eyes. The life we are beginning to see in her eyes completely changes her look. Her tummy is already beginning to round out now that we have finally figured out what she likes to eat (which was a challenge in and of itself). She actually reached for Brad today which really warmed our hearts. The other girls seem to be adjusting to their new position in the family and even Chai seems to be handling the displacement of being the baby quite well. We are sure there will be many tough days ahead but we are thankful the Lord has brought us this far already. Watching Canaan progress has made me think that we all have a long way to go in one way or another and I am so thankful our Heavenly Father does not get overwhelmed with our progress or lack thereof. I praise God for His endless patience and mercy with me and I pray He will help me keep this all in perspective in the days ahead.
No, that isn't a typo. It is what Chai affectionately and accidently penned today, all on her own. But, based on the events of the day, it fits perfectly.
After breakfast, we caught up with the entire AWAA group (43 families total), in the hotel lobby, and then proceeded on to church. It was a really cool place called Beijing International Christian Fellowship. The service we attended (one of many that day that cater to different nationalities) was a bilingual English/Chinese event. The worship team, as well as the pastor, would switch back and forth between the two languages seamlessly. It was fantastic to experience worship that way and the message was right on. The pastor spoke of how we can lay aside our pride and constant desire to "save face", because as believers, our identity is in Christ.
After the service, we headed to a jade factory. I was blown away by the beauty and precision of the carvers. The images created were very powerful and moving. We enjoyed ourselves there and after some pitches from the sales team, ended up with a few souviners for the girls to remind them of the trip.
Then, it was off for lunch at a family style chinese restaurant. Mindi dubbed it "Chinese Cracker Barrel." It was a great meal, and more food than should be allowed by law. Also, attached to the restaurant was another opportunity to purchase memorabilia from our travels. Surviving another store is precisely what prompted Chai to ask "how much longer until we go to The Great Mall Of China?" After all of the shopping, I felt like I had already been there.
But, we did finally arrive at the Great Wall of China and we were absolutely dunbfounded. The beauty, the craftmanship, the enormosity, the logistics.... I mean.... How do you build a wall of heavy brick and stone that is so long, it can be seen from space? Especially one that covers such ragged and tuff terrain. Our girls were amazing! They hiked up what was probably the equivalent of 50 flights of stairs at a pitch that felt literally straight up vertical, just to get their picture taken and say they "climbed the Great Wall."
Now we're back at the hotel and everyone is asleep but me. I better get to bed, because tomorrow is the big day...... "Gotcha Day" to be certain. We fly out of Beijing at 10:30 a.m and into Nanchang to go get our little China girl Canaan. We've been waiting a long time for this day to get here, and it has finally arrived. I hope I get some good pictures, that capture the moment well, to share with you. Until then......
Well, after a stop in Newark and another 12 hours of flying over the top of the world, we have finally made it to Beijing. The flight was pretty good and the kids did great. It is hard to get kids to sit still for that long, but I have to say that ours did a fabulous job. At least, we thought they did, but we got plenty of dirty looks from a certain young couple in particular. Oh well, they will understand one day, I'm sure. Unfortunately, the turbulance and breakfast duo was too much on one little Avery's tummy, that she vomited. That was quite a treat for everyone, and the smell and mess served as extra incentive for the entire plane to exit quickly.
Anyway, we arrived on time and didn't have any troubles with baggage or customs. We were met by our AWAA (America World Adoption Agency) transportation attendant just past the declarations desk, and we were off. When we got outside of the airport, if felt a lot like the Hotlanta sultry air. We enjoyed the trip from the airport to the hotel and got to see some of the sites and architecture from the road. After arriving at our hotel downtown, and one failed attempt to get into our rooms, we were finally here and settled. A little dinner at the restaurant later and we were ready to crash.....EARLY. All of us were out by 8 p.m China time (8 a.m. Eastern). So much for sleep though. The kids woke up at 4 a.m. and here I am blogging!
Today, we get to visit an international church and the Great Wall of China. But before that, I am off to the gym for a workout. Stay tuned for some pictures and stories from our adventures today. I am sure there will be some wonderful moments for the Avery's to share.
It is officially the eve of our trip. It seems hard to beleive that the event that we have waited for, thought about, prayer over and tried to picture hundreds of times in our minds over the last two years is about to roll into reality. All arrangements have been made, the bags have been packed and repacked and the latest Terri Blackstock is in my backpack (You are right! This is Mindi, not Brad blogging tonight!). Tomorrow should prove to be a loooong day and night of travel. Instead of laying in bed all day laboring to have a baby I will be sitting in one spot on a plane for an unmentionable amount of hours laboring to keep my kids entertained and keep from feeling too incredibly institutionalized. I figure that the amount of travel time actually equals the amount of time I was in labor and delivery for Chai. The actual time it took Brad to book the flights for this trip equals the time of labor and delivery for Charis. And Chloe, well, her labor and delivery will be about equal to the time of our sightseeing stay in Bejing where we will be saying "Wow! Look at that great big wall, but on the inside we will be screaming "Can we get this sightseeing over with and get to our baby?!" All very different situations, but all very much the same result. A precious, irreplacable, priceless bundle of sugar and spice. A work of art. A unique and divinely created being crafted by the Master Artist himself. Lord willing, the next time you hear from us we will be on the other side of the world!
Alright! So the travel has been approved, the consulate appointment is secheduled, flights are booked, and we are on our way. We leave Friday July 6th and return on Friday July 20th. Mindi and I are taking our three other daughters with us, so it ought to be quite an experience for everyone. Please pray for our travel and trip safety, as well as our consulate appointment, that all will go well. We pray that God will be glorified in all of this and that it will be an incredible memory and time for our family.
Obviously, I am going to be missing some shows because of this trip. So, Shawn Lewis from HyperStaticUnion will be filling in for me. Pray for those shows that they will come off without a hitch and check them out. It isn't very often that you get a chance to see Third Day without all members.
As a side note, if you are or are ever planning on adopting from China, and you decide that you would like to use your frequent flyer miles, you might want to try to hold them way in advance if possible. It wasn't a possibility for us because we found out our approval at the last last last last second. But that last second approval process might be common for a China adoption. All I am saying is, it is a hard sell to get last minute frequent flyer seats, so you might need a gameplan that was better than mine. Good Luck!
We'll keep you updated so check back with us!