Adoption Official

This morning we revisited the same official government office from the day before to make our adoptions official.  Again all the families waited for about an hour in the heat until at long last a rather casual official gave a short speech and handed us a nicely bound certificate with mini family photo.  Then back to the hotel for a day of play.

Finnian is showing off his curious and mischievous side.  While Eliza was relaxing with a bit of Barney and Jane was off to the local Walmart, Finn, unzipped the CD case and proceeded to empty its contents.  He enjoys handing Jane and I the hotel phone receiver, especially since it has an extra long chord, and he can get it to us no matter where we are in the room.  He is an intrepid climber:  stairs, bed, chairs, window sills, etc.  We are enjoying getting to know him.

 

Rewind:  visited the Great Wall of China a few days ago.  The ever present crowds, heat, and humidity made the steep climb difficult.  I witnessed several casualties along the way.  However, Eliza had been training back in Colorado, and she enthusiastically made amazing headway up the steep, uneven, and virtually never ending steps.  Also memorable were the Middle Eastern tourists making the climb in head to toe black garments (in July).  We were also awed at the many Chinese women, both younger and middle aged, who opted to make the ascent in bare feet because the nice dress shoes they had brought along couldn’t really do the job.

The Deuce!

At this hour, Finnian Pu Qing Schurter is sleeping beautifully in the crib next to our hotel bed. It is now the end of a long, wonderful, mournful, emotional, and blessed day. The important stuff began around 9:45 this morning when fourteen families hopped on two busses and headed to the Henan provincial registration office. Standing water on the roads made all the kid-carrying busses late. We waited about an hour and the crowd of expecting families began to stir. Our CCAI representative announced that the babies from Jiaozuo had arrived. We are one of the three families with children who were cared for in a smallish group home in that city about an hour and half outside Zhengzhou. We got buckets of rain last night.

Finnian was one of the first kids though the door—instantly recognizable from the photos we had received months ago. He looked healthy, alert, and very scared. First few minutes are a blur in my memory. We just spent the time holding him, giving him pats, and soaking in his presence. The next bus of children arrived and the action started to pick up. There were now about 50 people in a medium sized room with wall to wall tile…very noisy and disorienting. Crying went viral and Finn caught the bug. We moved our party out to the front steps of the building and he immediately calmed. There we found one of the nannies who had cared for Finnian the past year and a half. With the help of Isha, our guide and interpreter, Jane thanked her for loving and caring for Pu Qing. She (and we) was teary as she said “bye-bye” to Finn. To our astonishment, he verbalized a bye-bye as well and they exchanged kisses on the cheeks. Our son suffered yet another great loss in his life today.

Finn is smart, active, curious and very fun little boy. He is a expert toddler. With a single finger assist, he can climb up and down tall government building steps. When we got back to the hotel room, he was exploring everywhere at once: new toys on the floor, opening the toilet lid, punching buttons on the computer, and climbing up on the bed. We had sent our family photos to the orphanage some months ago. When we showed him the same photos today, He pointed to photos of Eliza and said the word for big sister in Mandarin. Jane learned the Mandarin word for kiss and we’ve found that he knows it too. He’s giving sugar all around. He has a fantastic laugh and a heart-rending cry. We’ve hear both several times.

Eliza is being a very good big sister. Her past months’ expressions of rejecting Finn have now mostly given way to excitement, being protective (and a bit of a tattle-tale), and cooperative. We are so very excited and thankful for our newly expanded family.

Hot Day in the City

Today was a dense day of touring at the hottest spots in Beijing. At peak season, the crowds were thick, and at the peak of summer, the temperature and humidity were both uncommonly high. There was just too much amazing detail to absorb during our two mile hike through the Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The heat took its toll on the group, but Eliza was a trooper. She entertained all around with her questions and commentary and enjoyed photographing her own view of the often chaotic scenery. She nearly faltered just outside the Hall of Preserved Harmony, but pulled through with the help of an icy popsicle.

We also toured a silk factory and the Hutongs, or old neighborhoods. We rode on rickshaws through the Hutongs and Eliza thought that was pretty fantastic. She declared that she was Cinderella and we were riding in a coach. She also yelled at the driver to go “super fast…like zooooom!”.

Tomorrow we trek to the Great Wall for a little Chinese “mountain” climbing. Then Sunday we fly to Zhengzhou with Finnian’s adoption day on Monday. Very close now.

Hot Hot Hot

Tomorrow we trek to the Great Wall for a little Chinese “mountain” climbing. Then Sunday we fly to Zhengzhou with Finnian’s adoption day on Monday. Very close now.

Beijing

We arrived safely.  Exhausted is not quite strong enough to describe the state of disorientation Eliza was experiencing!  She was a superstar the entire trip…not a tear, not a gripe, took a couple naps on the plane.  Right after we landed poor kid got sick.  She threw up in the van on the way to the hotel too.  The gentleman driving the car did not know English and was clearly concerned about Eliza and the van (we left no sign of the event). 

We spent today walking around, getting familiar with our location and finding the subway.  Eliza got a lot of attention, those of you who know her will not be surprised that…it did not go well.  Several people stopped to touch her or talk to her, others tried to take pictures.  The result was consistent…crying!  She said “too much people”. 

We hope to see the Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven tomorrow.  We will see how it goes.  After tomorrow we are not free agents.  Our travel group will be here and we will do group tours to the Great Wall, Forbidden City, and much more. 

We meet Finnian on the 19^th in Zhengzhou.  It will be here before we know it. 

Travel Time!

We learned today that we travel on July 12th.  We will be in China until July 31st.  Somewhere in there we become a family of four.  We are ready and anxious to meet Finnian.  We will do our best to keep the blog updated day to day during our travels.

We just celebrated Eliza's 4th birthday.  We are stunned at what a little lady she has become.  She received a card from her Great Grand Val and Great Grand Papa...as I read it to her she spoke to the card:  Me "We hope you have a fun birthday",  Eliza "Oh, I will!"  as she put her nose into the card to make sure the Great Grands could hear!

If you are curious about how Eliza looks traveling....

COAT

So, Finnian's Chinese name is Fu Pu Qing.  It means universal celebration!  We are certainly celebrating!!!

There is a non-profit organization involved in the care of the children in the Jiaozuo Social Welfare Institute.  It goes by the name COAT (Chinese Orphan Care Team).  I found this photo on their website: eagleswingschina.org.  What a lucky find!!  It's our sweet boy getting some love!  COAT seems to be doing some amazing work in Jiaozuo.  I will do some more research, but as great as the kids look...it seems undeniably fantastic!

Jiaozuo is 43 miles north of Zhengzhou (the provincial capital of Henan, P.R. China).  It is located in a transition area between the Taihang Mountains and Northern Henan Plain. It has only one social welfare institute that provides much needed care for the elderly and orphaned children.  We will be staying in Zhengzhou.  Hopefully we will have the opportunity to visit Jiaozuo and the social welfare institute and meet the people have loved our son.

Finnian

So, here he is.  Finnian Pu Qing Schurter.  Born 1-8-2009.  He currently resides in Jiaozuo, Henan, P.R. China.

Looks like we might travel in 6 weeks or so.