Our Day out with Ann

What a sweet day for me. We not only enjoyed some sightseeing and shopping in Guangzhou, but we also got to do it with my friend Ann. Ann and her family are living near Hong Kong this year and she was able to hop the train and get away for a day from them to be from us.

This morning she arrived in time to enjoy our breakfast buffet with us at the hotel. Then we loaded up on the bus for three stops in town. The first was to a Buddhist temple.


Amidst the strong smell of incense, we learned about the Buddha statues. First was the "Happy Buddha" to greet us and then there were others throughout the temple. As I watched men and women worshipping those statues, my heart broke. It is true that in the heart of man is that drive to worship. But what will we worship? Sadly, in China, many worship idols.

I asked our tour guide Grace if she practices Buddhism and she told me that she didn't and that was because she learned in school that there was no God. I followed up by asking her what most people in China believed and she said that only older people still came to worship for the most part. But then she surprised me and said that Christianity is growing. Isn't that interesting that she would say that?

After the temple we visited the Old Chen House. The "Chen" name in Guangzhou is like Smith or Johnson in America. It is a home for any in the Chen family and was a place to worship your ancestors. It was not Buddhism, but a place to honor your family. Now the government owns and operates it.

Then we went on to shop. Shopping in China is not like the U.S. There are places where you can barter and places where you can't. There are places that jip you off with fake things or might give you fake money in change and other places that are for real. We bought a little stroller full prices yesterday that we should have bartered for and today went to barter somewhere that you aren't supposed to do that. What a learning curve.


After that (while Nathan slept), Ann and I enjoyed lunch together and some time walking around and doing a little local shopping. I loved finding the little panda puppet for Nathan. He will stick his little hand inside it too and has already had fun playing with it!! It's been quite a day. A day out with our new son and a friend from our North Carolina days. Thanks Lord for time spent with those we love!

Moving on

Yes, life is moving on. My sickness has moved on and we've packed our bags and moved on from Zhengzhou and the place that we met Nathan. Yesterday was filled with packing up and going to the airport and waiting and then flying for 2 hours.

Keith and I haven't flown with a baby for awhile and that was a trip for us. He actually did really well on the flight and sat between us while the three of us ate the meal they provided. I've mentioned that Nathan is very friendly and he made a new friend in the man sitting beside us on the flight. By the end, this man had helped me put a new outfit on him (after he overflowed a diaper) and held him while we landed since Nathan was amazed by the lights of Guangzhou.

Below is a picture of us in the process of packing. We were mostly finished by the time Nathan woke up from his nap and had enough time to shoot this picture. Oh, we also found out that Nathan had a nickname in China. It was "Little Fat Cat". Isn't that something else? I love it. Those chubby cheeks say it all.

And now we are in Guangzhou. Our flight landed at 8:30 p.m. but we didn't get to our hotel until 10:30 p.m and didn't get our luggage until 11 p.m. As you can imagine, we had one exhausted little boy. And we were wiped out too. But we got up and going this morning to get a visa picture for him and have a physical done (see picture below). He was given a clean bill of health and our next big adoption thing is going for his visa on Monday.

I'm excited to share is that I did some shopping while Nathan napped this afternoon and it was really fun. Guangzhou feels like Florida, weather wise, and our hotel area reminds Keith of New Orleans. This is definitely "tourist" China, but it is beautiful to be here.

So, the next time we really "move on", it will be to come home. I can hardly wait to hug our kids and introduce everyone. We are enjoying this last stop, but also counting the days.

One last fun update is that I'm going to be able to see my dear friend Ann Brassard who is living a few hours away. She's coming in the morning and will be the first of you all to hold and meet Nathan!!! More later...

A quiet, healthy day

Today was a day for me to re-enter life after being sick most of yesterday. Thanks to those of you who were praying for me. I'm very grateful to be healthy again.

This morning there was an optional tour to a local museum in Zhengzhou that we could have gone on, but we realized that we needed some quiet time and space to relax with Nathan and recover. So, we leisurely enjoyed our breakfast at the hotel (which has been our favorite meal every day), took a walk with Nathan down to a nearby park with 2 other couples and their babies and came back and played in the hotel's little play room they have set up for our kids. For me, in particular, it was "just what the doctor ordered".


Having a quieter day like this for the three of us was sweet because we could just enjoy Nathan and play together. I loved it when Keith got on one end of the teeter totter (see picture below) and then invited Nathan to join him. You should have heard Nathan squealing in laughter. He really loved it and we were loving it with him.

When you think about all of the moments you share with your children...moments that are the building blocks of your relationship, you know that there are no substitutes for time spent focusing on them. I've loved those times with Drew, Lauren and Emily and now we are beginning to have those memories with Nathan. We were told by his "nannies" that he loves to laugh and every time that laugh comes out, it makes me want to cry (a good kind of cry, of course).

So, there's nothing life changing today but on the other hand it is all the little, daily things that make our lives so rich. And we are definitely having a "rich" life here with our boy. The longer we spend time with him, the more excited I get for him to meet his brother and sisters, his grandparents, uncles and aunts, 12 cousins and friends.

"This is the day the LORD has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it"

Good news

Rhonda is feeling healthy again for which we are grateful.

A Small Setback

Today we experienced a setback. During the night Rhonda got really sick. By morning she thought she was feeling better only to have it return again. She has been resting all day and 12 hours later is still not normal yet. Please pray that she would recover quickly.

Fortunately this was a "free" day for us. Some of the families were visiting the orphanage from which their baby came; however, our orphanage is 3 hours drive one way so we had already decided yesterday to stay home. It was a hard decision because we would really liked to have seen Nathan's home town (Pingdingshan) and especially the area near a large river where he was abandoned.

I spent the day with Nathan. Nathan bonded with Rhonda immediately but has been more reserved with me. (It's quite common that adopted babies will initially "prefer" one parent to another.) I feel like we connected today. Our hotel has a small play room we get to spend time together there. Nathan has the cutest little giggle when he is happy.

It's Official!

"We're a family of 6" were Keith's words as we accepted our Certificate of Adoption this morning. After we'd signed all of the proper forms we got in the bus again and went to the top floor of the Notary building where the documents were notarized.

SO - Nathan Jiang Johnson is officially ours. It is really hard to believe and we are incredibly humbled and grateful to God for him.

For me, I find myself (at a little over 36 hours into this) wondering about who this little miracle of a boy really is. We went to a local "Wal-Mart" type store today and as we were wheeling the cart around the store, I would watch him and wonder what was going on in his mind. What does he think of us? What are his tastes? (he does seem to like everything we offer him to eat so far). And what is his personality? What were his parents like? What were the 15 months like for him before we all met? So many questions and so few answers.

We are figuring some things out about him. He is teething. We just figured that out at dinner tonight. He likes to roll around all over his crib before falling to sleep. He is very friendly. This morning at breakfast he had the undivided attention of a worker outside the restaurant window. He kept entertaining this man with his waves and looks. Nathan does like attention.

These are just a few glimpses into his life and everyone of them is like a puzzle piece. I think one of the hardest realities of adoption is that there will be many of those pieces that we will never find. But that is where our prayers (and yours) come in, as well as our faith and trust that our redeeming God will not only redeem those things we don't know, but also use them for His glory
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We can't wait for all of you to meet him too! He's coming out of his shell and we are too and the discovery is quite an adventure. I love this picture of him tonight making his first "cell phone call". We'll talk to you all again tomorrow.

Gotcha Day

Here he is!!! We are all doing well. The hotel room is dark and quiet right now as I write this and Nathan is taking his first nap with us.

Where do I begin to explain what I've felt these last few hours? Let me start by quoting from my journal entry earlier this morning before we went to get him and then I'll add a postscript.

"Nathan, here we come!"
November 29, 2010
So - after over 4 years of actively pursuing adoption, after years of longing, this is it!

Jesus, how can this be? How can this miracle be coming true? The roller coaster of emotions that I'm feeling is overwhelming. I am both celebrating and grieving.

The joy and anticipation of loving him is so sweet but the sadness over what he has not ever known in his 15 months of life AND over the trauma that today represents (strange faces, sounds, smells, etc.) for him is right there pressed up beside the joy.

And in all of my emotions, you are LORD. You're my Father who has adopted me and held me since I was in my mother's womb. You know Nathan just like you knew me. You know who he is, who is birth Mommy is, and You are why Keith and I are here."

I wrote these words after breakfast and spent some time meditating on Psalm 139:13-16. That passage is so amazing and will be marked in my heart as Nathan's "Gotcha Day" passage. God intimately knows him and intricately formed him in his mother's womb. And God is intricately weaving us into Nathan's story now. We, too, are to be a part of the story he has. Praise to you God for the knitting that you have done, are doing and will do!!!!

[Fast forward to the present (i.e., the post script)] So, that was this morning BEFORE we met him. Then all 16 families boarded our 2 buses and headed over to the room where we were to meet our children. What a surreal situation is was for all of us. My main emotion for the day so far is disbelief. I still can't believe that the baby boy in that crib in our room is really him.

We watched and took pictures as children started to come into the room. Ron and Laurie's son came pretty quickly and being a part of their first moments with John was amazing. I must have taken 50 or more pictures for them.

We waited (a common theme for us, hmm), watched, took pictures for others and waited some more. Actually, we were the last of all the families to get our baby. By the end I felt like I did when I had been a bridesmaid over and over and never a bride. I think it still didn't seem like we would get a baby. Everyone else would, but we would go home empty handed.

And then he came. When they handed him to us, he began to cry. I've cried tears about this transition for him and can completely understand why he was crying. But, after a few moments and some snacks, the tears subsided and he began to intently look all around him. You could almost see him trying to process all these strange new realities and take it all in.

We received a bag full of things like formula, new pictures of him, extra clothes and diapers from the PingDingShan orphanage. And I couldn't believe that they included all of the things we had sent him in his care package! Also, there was a dear little gift of a baby bracelet and necklace from one of his nannies who loved him. That will be a treasure, for sure.

There's much to still process, but one last highlight for me was just a few minutes ago when we were lying him down for his nap. I had wondered when I'd see his first smile and got a smile AND a precious giggle from him when I tickled his ribs. I think one of the things I'm most excited to see happen is for him to show us who he really is. It will be fun to see his personality come out.

Thanks Jesus for this day. Thanks for Nathan and his life. Thanks for intersecting our lives and for letting us belong to each other!