Update for today...
Today we went to complete more paperwork...first the police dept, then the notary office. Then we took a taxi to the orphanage, where we met up with Robert and the Gour family. Together we all went out to lunch. Robert took us to a local restaurant he likes and we spent hours in great conversation. He's a great guy and I'm very appreciative for his efforts at the orphanage. He also had found some more pictures of Ben which was great. Ben is probably around 6 yrs old in the pics. Brent and Ben were so bored while we had lunch. We were in a private room at the restaurant, so they probably felt confined with nothing to do... well, it was around 2.5 hours!
Tomorrow we are going to the deaf school. Ben will get to see his teacher again and also his 2 good friends. I'm wondering how that will be for him, having to say his final goodbye. After that, we are going to see his finding spot. Then after that, we will visit ancient culture street. Then Friday....fly to Guangzhou!
Well, tired and going to bed now.
Hugs,
Lisa
May 13, 2008... Ben's official date of adoption
Let me start by saying that our hearts are broken for all the lost lives here in China from the massive earthquake. What a tragedy for so many thousands of families. We also felt a "sway" here in Tianjin, but there are no problems here. May God give peace to the hurting people...
Today was actually a very nice day here... it was sunny and warm, a nice welcome after the cold rainy days we've had. After breakfast we went to the civil affairs office, then the notary office, then Walmart (very fun), then lunch, then to the orphanage which was amazing. We are now in the room waiting for room service to bring our dinner and we've been playing soccer in the room and other games. Ben is VERY playful! He has a great sense of humor...he's a great kid and he and Brent are 2 peas in a pod. He fits in with us perfectly...just like God planned. The orphanage visit was so wonderful. It was super clean and well stocked with toys and brightly decorated painted walls. The kids all looked very clean, with nice clothes, shoes and the girls with their hair done so cute. We passed out a big bag candy that I brought to a bunch of younger kids at the orphanage. They loved it
and just smiled ear to ear to see us and to hug on us. One of them even tried to give Susan some of her own candy...so sweet. Ben loved to show us around. The
orphanage director is amazing... nice, sweet, outgoing, and she gave a little ceremony for us and the other families that were adopting to show her thanks to us for
bringing China's children into our families. There were 7 families total at the ceremony and together we represented 4 different countries. It was very nice. The director adores Ben, and so does all the staff at the orphanage. They all stroke his face and hug him. Ben had no problem saying goodbye to everyone...he wasn't sad...he seems ready to move on to his new life. Ben is officially ours and he is really at ease. All of our adopted children have transitioned so wonderfully...we are really so blessed.
and just smiled ear to ear to see us and to hug on us. One of them even tried to give Susan some of her own candy...so sweet. Ben loved to show us around. The
orphanage director is amazing... nice, sweet, outgoing, and she gave a little ceremony for us and the other families that were adopting to show her thanks to us for
bringing China's children into our families. There were 7 families total at the ceremony and together we represented 4 different countries. It was very nice. The director adores Ben, and so does all the staff at the orphanage. They all stroke his face and hug him. Ben had no problem saying goodbye to everyone...he wasn't sad...he seems ready to move on to his new life. Ben is officially ours and he is really at ease. All of our adopted children have transitioned so wonderfully...we are really so blessed.
Here are some pictures of our trip to the civil affairs office, the orphanage, and misc. We are having a blast together!
Tomorrow we leave the hotel early again to go back to the civil affairs office, then the police station, then we are having lunch with Robert, the American man who has volunteered at the orphanage since 2000 and has known Ben since then. I'm really looking forward to that. On Thursday we are going to go visit the school for the deaf that Ben attended. There Ben will say goodbye to his good friends and teachers. We will pass out more candy. That will be the last day that he will see his sweet teacher. That might be difficult, as I think she is the most bonded with him, and obviously loves him. Today we got a gift for her. She and I have been comparing Chinese and American sign language. She is amazing. By the way, Bo & Glenda... there ARE some signs that are the same as ours! After we visit the school, we will go visit Ben's finding place...where he was found at the estimated age of 2 1/2 years old.
By the way, I cannot see my blog because I'm blocked from viewing it while in China, so I'm posting remotely...not sure how it looks, so keep that in mind.
Signing off for now...
love to all
Lisa
Today I met my new son...
Well, today we left the hotel at 9:00 am and our guide took us to the orphanage. Outside the orphanage, we met Robert, the American man who has helped at the orphanage for the past several years and has known Ben since he was about 3. Then we went into a room where there were about 4 other families who had already received their children, so it was a busy room with a lot of joy going around. We had to do some paperwork first and then they brought Ben into the room. He seemed happy and not too nervous and walked in with a big smile. He came over and hugged me. As we went outside to leave, a couple nannies ran over to say goodbye to Ben and gave him a present. Then the orphanage director came over to see us off. She was very pleasant. We left and went back to the hotel with our guide and Ben's teacher, who is helping to translate using Chinese sign language. She has been his teacher for 3 years and it is very obvious that she adores Ben. She is super sweet and kind. We all went out to lunch. We ate lamb, beef (very spicy), vegetables, chicken, and rice. We used only chopsticks...no silverware. We all did pretty good! When I took a bite of something that was in that spicy beef dish, I thought my mouth was on fire! We said goodbye for the day to his teacher and she took a taxi back to the school. We walked back to the hotel and our guide went to her room and we were now on our own. So, we've been hanging out in the room and Brent is showing Ben computer games, which he seems to like. The two boys walked around the hotel a couple times and checked out the pool and fitness room. They just wanted to explore a little. Ben doesn't know how to swim. After a while, we made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Ben smelled it and right away tried it...no problem! He loved it even though it was apparant he didn't know what it was. So, we'll just take it easy for the rest of the night...I think it's been a long day for Ben. We leave the hotel at 8:30 in the morning to go to the civil affairs office for more paperwork. I think on Thursday we are going to go to the school. I'm looking forward to that.
We are already getting a little tired of the cuisine, and longing for some western food :o)
Oh, he gave away the photos from the photo album I had sent him in the care package. He wanted his friends to have the pictures. The teacher said that everyday he would show his friends the pictures of his family coming for him. So sweet.
Susan is a great travel buddy and was my photographer today. Thanks Susan !!
Stay tuned tomorrow for a new update. I miss all of you back home...love you so much.
Lisa
and more girls asking Brent for a picture...
We are in Tianjin now...
Well, we arrived in Tianjin today by train. What a wild train station that was!! Not to mention it was cold and rainy...Brent and I didn't pack jackets, and we didn't have umbrellas. The train ride itself was only just over an hour and was pleasant. I studied my sign language book, Susan was reading a book, and Brent was listening to his new Chinese cd on the computer. Our guide was as sweet and efficient as she could be and we were sad to say goodbye to her, but she took great care of us. Brent made her a thank you card and it was so sweet. Our new guide Helen met us at the train station and arranged for 2 men to come onto the train and take all our bags. It was a LONG walk to get to the van and we don't know how we would have done it without them. Lots of stairs and heavy luggage and raining. We are now at the Holiday Inn Tianjin. The room is a little smaller, but fine and relatively clean, oh, and it has free internet too..yay! the last hotel charged $22 a day for internet. We got settled in and I arranged all of the things that we will bring tomorrow to the orphanage. I brought a huge bag filled with toothpaste and another filled with toothbrushes, all for the kids at the orphanage. I also brought a big bag of assorted candy for the kids at the orphanage and a gift for the orphanage director and one for the nanny that was closest to Ben at the orphanage. Tomorrow we leave the hotel at 9:30 to go meet Ben. The sign language translator will be with us and will accompany everything we do for 2 days. It is a man who happens to be one of Ben's teachers, which is so perfect. I hope to find out a lot about Ben from him and also how he's doing in school. He doesn't speak English, so he will speak the translations to Helen our guide in Chinese and she will translate for us.
We are using Skype to call home and it is so easy and user friendly (and cheap!). I miss all of you back home... how are you Mike, Blake, Brianna, Lidia, Brinley & Bayla???
Today is Mother's day and I wish I could be with you, but pretty soon we'll all be together again :o)
Happy Mother's Day to mom, Wendy, Traci, Jocelyn, April, Jenny, Laura... and all the other great moms I know!!!
I will follow with posting some more pictures ~ mom, please email me to let me know if they come through on the blog.
Oh, I emailed Robert to tell him I was here and he emailed back to invite us to get together for lunch sometime this week. That will be great to meet him and his wife. Also, Robert has known Ben since he was about 3 years old.
Well, that's all for now. I'm going to study my books some more then get a good night's rest. Oh, I am feeling SO much better...almost finished with my antibiotics and really feeling almost normal again. So thankful for that. Oh, and I'll be praying some big prayers tonight...that's okay, because my God is so big :o)
Love, Lisa
Here in Beijing...
Well, 21 hours after we left our house, we were finally in Beijing. The airplane ride was smooth...just very long. The stretch from Dulles to Beijing is 13.5 hours and those last few hours are a doozy! We are at the Peace Novotel Hotel and it is very nice just like I had remembered from last year. The breakfast is good. Yesterday was our first day of sight-seeing. We went to the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Tieneman Square, Altar to Heaven, we visited a silk factory, took the Hutong Tour, and then ended the night with an acrobatic show. The touring was really nice and we have our guide, Michelle all to ourselves since we are not in a travel group... but unfortunately, I had started to feel under the weather before leaving NC, and it turned into a sinus infection/fever/and overall achyness as if someone has beaten me up :o(
I haven't been sick in probably 2 years...what a bummer. I was really hurting during the sight-seeing and on top of that, the weather was actually quite cold, which we weren't expecting...and a little rainy toward the end. No sun to be found all day!
I began my antibiotics I had brought, and I'm taking drixoral and ibuprofin. Today we have woken up at 5:30a.m., which is better than yesterday when we kept waiting for morning to arrive by getting up at 12:00 a.m., then again at 3:00 a.m. I think our body clocks are getting more used to the time zone.
Today Michelle picks us up at 9:00 a.m. again and we go touring again... this time to the Great Wall, Summer Palace, and I'm not sure where else. The sun is shining today, so that is good :o)
Tomorrow we take an afternoon train to travel to Tianjin. It will take about 2 hours to get there and our new guide will be there to pick us up and take us to the Holiday Inn Tianjin. The next day is Monday, and it is the day we get Ben. I am really praying to feel all better by then so I can be a lot more "with it". Brent and Susan are doing great. We had a Chinese lunch yesterday and they both thoroughly enjoyed it.
I hope this posts okay because I cannot access my blog (it's blocked), so I am posting remotely. I'm attaching a few pictures, I hope they come through.
Signing off for now...
Lisa
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