2007 Travel Journal to Hudson
click on each day to view journal and pictures
March 18 Off to Changsha, Hunan!!! (Our beautiful hotel)
March 21 Shopping, the Park, and Hudson's Smiles!!!
March 23 Hudson's Passport and lots and lots of Hudson photos!
March 25 Hudson's 15 month birthday!
March 26 Visa Physical exam and tour!
March 27 Consulate Appointment, Red Sofa photos, and Pearl Market!
March 28 U.S. Consulate Oath Ceremony!
March 29 We're Coming Home!!!!!!
Welcomed by the tulips!
It's great to be home! We were welcomed by the tulips. We planted tulips in 2005 thinking they would come up March 2006, when we would bring home our baby. The tulips did come up last year and reminded us that our baby was probably born but was not with us yet. One year later, March 29, 2007, we arrived home just in time to see our beautiful red and purple tulips. The small things in life are special blessings from God.
As for the details of our trip, luggage was out by our room door before 6 AM on Thursday morning, March 29 and we left the hotel at 7 AM. We had a sweet ride to the airport as we knew this would be our last few moments with our group. The day before, one of our families left early and that was our warmup for all of us as we knew we would soon go our separate ways. Once at the airport, some of the group were flying to Hong Kong then San Francisco and the rest of us were flying to Beijing and then to Chicago.
Hudson cried the first flight to Beijing, a three hour flight. We were not sure what was going to happen on the 12 hour flight since the three hour one was not good. Once on the plane from Beijing to Chicago, he played and laughed and talked and did everything to stay awake. Once asleep, he slept six hours. We got some sleep during that time but not good sleep as it's challenging to sleep basically sitting up. We were so blessed to get bulkhead seating so we made a little bed for Hudson on the floor. It was so wonderful to hit US soil. We left Beijing at 5:30 and arrived in Chicago about 12 hours later. God makes life so fun. We met our friends at the airport in Chicago. They flew from Guangzhou to Shanghai and then to Chicago. We rode the plane together all the way home with our new babies, Isabella and Hudson.
It was so exciting to get off of the plane and see all the people in the window of the airport. Many friends were there to greet and welcome our Hudson and little Isabella. The first site of seeing Zachary, Joel B. and Alaina's smiles will always be etched in my memory. Hudson was not sure of all these people wanting to hold him and speaking English. He had the same expression on his face as he did the first 56 hours of us having him. It wasn't long that he was smiling. He instantly liked the boys and he laughs at Alaina.
We are slowly recovering. The first night, Hudson woke up at 6 AM after we had just gone to bed at 3 AM. We napped some throughout the day and limited Hudson's naps. Hudson loved going outside. It was such a beautiful spring day. It's so wonderful to come home to Spring. The flowers are growing and starting to look like spring. My mom put away my collection of snowmen and did some spring cleaning while we were gone. The second night, Hudson slept 13 hours and we had to wake him. He crawls everywhere and interested in everything. He likes his squeaky shoes and has started walking. He takes about 4 steps and falls into my arms.
We are very tired but life is good. We are so happy to be home as a family of seven. Last night was our first dinner together as a family. Our table is very full and very precious.
Hudson is going HOME!!!
It's very early this Thursday morning. The luggage is outside and soon we will be leaving for the airport headed for Beijing. This will be our last message before we arrive home. When we get settled at home, I will add the travel pictures of our trip. Pray for a great flight for us. Pray Hudson sleeps...a lot! Please, continue to follow our journey on our site as our journey is only beginning.
Zoo, Consulate Oath, and Packing
Today was very full. We were up very early headed for the Guangzhou Zoo. It was wonderful and such a nice zoo. Lots of pictures to share. After we arrived back to the hotel, we worked on finishing up some shopping. At 2:45PM, we were headed to the US Consulate for the Ceremony. The room was very full of wonderful parents and adorable babies. I would guess at least 100 babies have loving homes now as represented in the big room today. We repeated the words while raising our right hand and before we knew it, we were free to leave the country....Hudson's Passport and Visa ready to go. As soon as we hit US soil, he will have two citizenships: China and United States. Some people have to wait all their lives to be a citizen of our great country. Not only is Hudson, loved and adopted by our family, he is also "adopted" by our country and given permission to walk right into our great land. This is exactly what our Heavenly Father has given us...citizenship in Heaven and Eternal Life through HIM if we believe.
After the Ceremony, we started packing and taking care of last minute shopping. We, once again, had a famous artist draw the kids pictures. They will love it. I gave the artist a picture of each child and he did a very large print. I will include them in the pictures. I can't believe today was our last day in China. Tomorrow morning we set the luggage out at 6 AM, eat breakfast and on the bus headed to the airport by 7 AM. We should arrive in Beijing around noon and then fly out from Beijing to the US around 4 PM. We expect to land at home around 9:30 PM. Enjoy the pictures of the past two days. I will enter the Zoo pictures after we get home. They are really good so make sure you see them soon. This should keep you busy as we are flying the next 24 hours and then you can actually meet our famous Hudson.
Consulate Appointment, Red Sofa Photo and Pearl Market
This morning Jocelyn and Bruce went to our Consulate Appointments and we all passed! Tomorrow, Wednesday we will do our Ceremony at the US Consulate and then we are free to go. Hudson got his Visa picture taken a few days ago and is so cute.
Next, we met around noon for the Red Sofa picture of all the babies and then we took a photo of all the parents and babies. This is my favorite part...all the babies in their silk China outfits. You will LOVE the pictures.
Around three o'clock we met and rode a Taxi to the Pearl Market. It's like a five-story mall of all JEWELRY. As you can imagine, I was in "jewelry heaven" watching them make the jewelry. By the time we were leaving, it was busy traffic so we stood for the longest time waiting on a taxi. I will soon show you my collection of "Bike" pictures. Everybody rides a bike and I love the things they stack on the back....anything and everything. I took lots of bike pictures to add to my collection while we were waiting on the taxi. So fun!
Tomorrow is our last full day here. I can't believe it...we are going home soon. We plan to go to the Guangzhou Zoo and will eventually post those pictures,too.
Medical Exam, Shopping, and City Tour
Today was another busy day. Jocelyn and Bruce our CCAI Reps scheduled a City Tour for us today. It's so funny that it is the same tour that we adventured on with Alaina in 2004. Joel and I decided we didn't want to go again but that we really wanted Alexis to go. We knew she would enjoy it. Sometime soon we will allow her to journal her thoughts of the tour. She took lots of pictures. I especially wanted her to see the Buddhist Temple so she can totally understand the need for Christ in China. She came back from the tour showing me her pictures. I knew, like Joel and me in 2004, that she would have such a love for the people of China after visiting the Buddhist Temple. She witnessed people bowing down to a dead god. Anyone can walk into the Temple. It's like a courtyard. It has big Buddhas all around and people go from Buddha to Buddha bowing to them. Very life changing and I'm so thankful she is able to experience it at such a young age. She loves it here and doesn't want to leave.
I met a store owner who told me very softly that she became a Christian one year ago. We take for granted growing up in a Christian home and all the knowledge of the Bible. She really knows nothing and is searching and learning. So precious. I gave her some books that I brought with me and she was so excited. She held them to her heart and said she would keep them forever and that it exactly what she needed. The books are in English so I would like to find some books in Chinese to pass on to her. Alexis has been learning some Chinese from the store owners and actually she is pretty good. She sounds so Chinese when she talks...funny. Hudson loves to baby talk with the store owners because they speak Chinese to him. Pray for his little index finger. All the babies in our group suck their index finger. Hudson's is looking really bad right now because he has sucked it so much.
After the City Tour, we met at the Medical Clinic for the babies' checkups for their Visas. Hudson is 21 pounds!!! Jocelyn thought that Hudson weight was the most of all the babies--all the rest of the babies are girls. He has been in the orphanage with all women all his life. No boys....well...just the orphanage director. Female Nannies and female cribmates all around him. We have already gotten lots of marriage proposals from the parents of the girls. Too cute.
We will post the pictures soon of Alexis's tour after she adds them to the computer. For now, enjoy Hudson's Medical Exam pictures.
Hudson's First Airplane ride
We made it to Guangzhou! The flight was only one hour. It was Hudson's first airplane ride! He did great and ate cheerios and played the whole hour. He didn't get his nap so by the time we made it to Guangzhou, he was so ready to go to bed. Joel and I felt like we had jetlag all over again from the flight. We were so excited to be greeted by our friends with their new Isabella when we arrived. She is 3 days older than Hudson and a beautiful baby girl. We had dinner with them at Lucy's, a Western Style Restaurant which was a nice change. We are so happy to be here and looking forward to shopping.
The morning began later than usual since we didn’t have any appointments.
The traffic just amazes me. They do have stop lights but nobody uses their turning lights. They just honk their horn and expect that the people, bikes and any thing else that is in front of them, gets out of the way. No double decker buses but lots of regular city buses, lots of bikes and motor cycles, and many carts. We saw veggies, different kinds of fruit, nuts, and other foods being sold on the street. Shoe shining is very big on the streets. Motor cycles and bikes drive on the sidewalk areas so you have to be so careful not to get hit while walking on the sidewalk. Every age, size and styles are seen. You wonder if some people have jobs. They stand around and talk, play Chinese Chess and enjoy the socialization. Those that are working, really work. We saw the trash man pulling a huge pile of trash. You can see it in the pictures. It’s amazing how many boxes you can stack on the back of your bike. My favorite thing is the billboards…everywhere. The models are normally Caucasian people. I cannot find a doll in all of
Around 4:30, one parent went to a meeting with Daphne to get the passport and to check to make sure everything was ok.
After returning back to the room, we started packing..ugh. We took a break for dinner in the hotel’s Garden Restaurant. We chose not to order the buffet but thought we would entertain you with the display on the buffet. The Garden Restaurant has western style food. Interesting enough, the food on the buffet was nothing that I had ever seen in the
After dinner, Joel has the big idea that we should walk to McDonald’s for an ice-cream. Thinking that it is nearby, I agree. Well, we walked for several blocks and I was dressed in shorts. Are we crazy? Everybody was dressed in winter coats and hundreds of people were on the streets of
Well, I have shared our day in detail all except the amazing details of
I just know that God has something very special in store for this little guy. If we had not said “boy or gladly except a girl if a boy is not available”,
We leave tomorrow around noon. It’s a sad but exciting day as we leave his birth province. We hope to come back in several years and show him where he was born and where he lived the first year of his life. For now, we hope we took enough pictures of his birth city and have enough stories to share as we know someday he will ask questions. Enjoy the pictures!
Embroidery Factory and Orphanage
We had another great night’s sleep.
We visited the Hunan Embroidery Factory today. This is a very famous place and amazing art. My favorite is the double sided embroidery. They will make two different pictures on opposite sides at the same time. We enjoyed watching them at work. Very fascinating. We bought
In the afternoon, one parent from each family rode over an hour on the bus to visit the orphanage. I woke up this morning thinking that I wouldn’t be emotional. We had visited an orphanage in Alaina’s birth town so I thought I could handle it. Alaina was in a great foster home. This time it was a little different because these are the ladies that cared for him his whole life. As soon as the bus parked in front of the orphanage, I lost my breath. We all were so impressed with the courtyard surrounding the orphanage. The director and his assistant directors were so kind and served hot tea and fruit. He shared with us how thankful he is for us and gave some details about the orphanage. The nannies were so beautiful. At the time, only 10 babies were there. I can’t explain my overwhelming emotions when I walked in the room and saw these little ones in their cribs. There were 4 babies younger than 2 months old and one that was only 10 days old. The others were around
Alexis went with me and I’m sure her life is changed forever. We were able to see just a glimpse of what
At home, Hudson and Dad bonded while we were away. I think
Shopping and a Walk in the Park
Today we visited the Apolo Department Store. It was a really nice mall basically with really nice clothes, books, jewelry and appliances. It really is a mall instead of a department store. It is so interesting figuring out how much Yuan would equal a US dollar. The sales ladies came up to us and we both would talk in sign language. Daphne gave us a print out of phrases in Chinese and English to show the sales ladies. She gave us a necklace to wear that read something like, “We have adopted our baby from XiangYin Orphanage and we will love him always” so they would understand why we have this adorable Chinese baby in my Snuggly. Daphne thinks of everything for us. They were all trying to be so helpful as we would talk in sign language. We bought some cute books for Alaina and gifts for the boys. We decided to wait on
On the way back,
After returning to the room,
After the park, the group decided to return to the same Chinese restaurant (in our hotel) as last night. Fifty-six hours after
Adoption Day…Forever Day!!!
He’s ours!!! The day began early around 6 AM. I was so surprised to awake and realize that
We loaded the bus around 8:30AM and were on our way to the Registration Office. The first thing we did was visit the Registrar. She ask if we were “pleased and happy” with him and if we wanted to keep him. We said yes and put our thumbprint in red ink over top of our signature. She then put red ink on
Next, we had our family photo taken for the Adoption Certificate. Then we visited the Notary and paid the Notary Fee. Afterwards, we met the Assistant Director and the Manager of the Nannies. They love Li Li, as they continued to call him. They talked to him in Chinese and tickled him. He laughed out loud and smiled at them for several minutes. We have not managed to create a smile yet from us but we know it will soon come. We were given the opportunity to ask the Directors a few questions. They said that Li Li is very spoiled and was always held constantly by his nannies. The nannies carried him constantly. We have discovered that this is true. I think right now, Alexis (Sissy) is his favorite Nanny and he thinks I’m a pretty cool Nanny right now as well. Daddy is not his favorite at the moment. As we all know, this will soon pass especially during baseball and soccer seasons. They also told us that he likes to sway before going to sleep. We discovered that yesterday when Sissy Alexis put him to sleep. What a blessing to have just one more piece of the puzzle of his little life.
As we now have had him a little over 24 hours at the time I am typing, we probably still have not seen his true personality. It feels like he has always been in our family and in a matter of hours or days, he will realize that we are his forever family. As I type, I’m praising God for answering our prayers for 20 months. Everyday we prayed a consistent prayer. We prayed that he (or she) would be loved, kissed, held, fed, and Alaina always added that he would have lots of toys. We believe with all that we can see, our prayers have been answered. Some times we pray specific prayers and some times God just blesses us HIS way. My friends were praying with me that our baby would learn how to sleep. I prayed this prayer daily as I knew the importance of a baby’s good sleep. Last night was so wonderful. Almost 12 hours…amazing. We are so thankful that God protected
To celebrate the big day, our group had dinner in the Dolton Hotel Food Street Chinese Restaurant. Everything was very yummy. Daphne got a really large cake for the babies. Eight of our babies had their first birthdays and two babies are getting ready to celebrate their first birthdays so we had a big birthday party for them. We sang Happy Birthday…very sweet. Daphne presented an adorable Panda Bear to each baby as a gift from CCAI and a little Chinese bag…precious.
Gotcha Day!
Wow, what a day! Our day began waking up at 5:00 A.M. We had a meeting at 7:30 to do paperwork with Daphne and our group. At 8:15 Daphne taught us how to make a bottle and prepared us for what was to come. At 9:30 our group met in the lobby and hopped on the bus headed for the Changsha Registration office to receive our babies. Our travel group of 10 families have waited 20 months for this day. Half of us became parents for the first time. Lots of happy tears flooded the room. Daphne called each family's name and we walked up to receive our babies. We were #9 in line. The room was very quiet and the babies were very content in their new parents arms.
The bus ride home was filled with a little crying. Off we go to our room to bond with our new baby.
The day has gone well. He is happy in all of our arms but does not like to have his diaper changed. He wants to be held at all times. CCAI provided Dr. Su to give the babies a check up.
Tomorrow is Adoption Day when he legally is ours.
We are in Changsha!
We arrived safely in Changsha! We will soon get the babies after we wake up in the morning...your Sunday night but our Monday morning. We arrived at our beautiful hotel. We do have internet but it is sooooo very slow. It has taken us 3 hours to get three days updated. Sorry the pages from here on will not be "decorated". I will work on those when I get home. Thanks for your prayers. We will add pictures of the day a little later. Check back Sunday night your time or Monday morning. We will have Hudson!!!
Touring Hong Kong
Happy
The second stop was at the Jewelry Factory. It was very interesting seeing the jewelry being made in front of our eyes. It really helped me appreciate my jewelry business even more after I saw the prices on there jewelry. It was very funny when the very aggressive sales people were complimenting me on my Premier Jewelry. Little did they know, my jewelry only cost $25 instead of $2500.
The third thing we did today was visit the Stanley Market. This was fun and kind of like our flea markets from home. They had really nice inexpensive items. We decided to wait until we hit
Next, we drove up the mountain towards
Our last stop was at the Dim Sum for lunch. Yum!!! We tried some new things and some things were familiar tastes. The tables were very large and had a “lazy susan” in the center like all the tables in restaurants in
We took a short nap and headed back out for some more siteseeing. We decided to adventure out on our own and just take a walk through the streets. It was wild. 1000’s of people on the streets, double decker buses bumper to bumper, billboards galore, many shops for miles down the streets made it all interesting.
We had dinner at McDonalds and enjoyed our 50 cent icecream. Afterward we visited the
We ended our day with packing, calling the kids, and catching up on our journaling. Tomorrow, we will leave Hong Kong and head to
We are in Hong Kong!
We arrived in
