China Day 3: Ni Hao from Hong Kong!

Note:  I am having trouble publishing the correct time stamp from the blog.  It's REALLLLY annoying me.  It publishes on Central time which is not the correct date and time.  I am writing myself a note so I can fix it later.

6:00 am Sunday morning about our Saturday (

We had a FULL day yesterday which started with a 3:30 am wake up for this Momma.  After two trips to China I've decided 3:30 am is my internal jet lag time.  All three of us were up by 5 am and enjoyed a leisurely morning in the hotel.


 

We had breakfast down the street at little place called Delifrance and then walked down to the promenade to see Victoria Harbour.  It was extremely cloudy and overcast this morning but cleared off around mid day. 

We met our guide, Ski, from Big Foot Tour Company at 10 am along with our friends from Iowa who are also adopting from Guangdong.  This is the same family we met for lunch in Detroit and flew to China on the same plane.  We started our tour down the Avenue of the Stars near our hotel.  This is WM with Bruce Lee...

Good ole Bruce created quite a stir with his famous Kung Fu moves.  

And of course a little Jackie Chan...

We took a walk along the Harbour and got caught in a passing rain shower.  Good thing we decided to leave the umbrella in the room.  :/  Thankfully it didn't last too long. 

This is the old train depot for the line running from Hong Kong to London years ago.  Can you imagine taking a train from Hong Kong to LONDON?   

 

(Oh... the black thing on my foot...  I sprained my ankle the day before we left.  It is getting better every day so don't worry)

This one is for my girls.  They love pandas...

We boarded the Star Ferry for a quick ride across the Harbor.  We learned that Hong Kong does not have a proper sanitation system so everything goes directly into the Harbor.  They don't eat the fish from the Harbor for this reason.  Can you say EWWWW?

It was fascinating to see enormous ships and tiny little "vintage" boats all speeding around the same harbor. 

At this point we spent the rest of our tour on Hong Kong Island. 

Occupy Hong Kong... :)

We had lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant.  The food was delicious.  Wild Man?  He had noodles and a Sprite.  :)

We visited a local temple.  It was interesting to hear the facts our guide shared with us about what the locals believe.  Though it was physically a beautiful building I couldn't help but feel a little sad as we watched the locals waive the incense and bow multiple times before these little statues. 

While the Hong Kong people remain in an identity crisis since the 1997 return of Hong Kong from Britain to China, the British influence still remains. :)

Our wonderful guide, Ski, as we ended our tour at the bus station...
 

She was WONDERFUL and taught us a lot of the history of this "Special Authorized Region" of China. To recap our day...

We took the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island, walked through the shopping district (Prada, Cartier, etc), rode up the world's largest escalator (800m long), visited a Taoist temple, perused a few street markets and ate an authentic Chinese lunch.  We rode a streetcar (aka "ding ding" here), a bus, a tram and a train/subway. That's in addition to walking several miles.  By the end of the day my ankle was not happy with me but I think it will be fine once I rest it again.  It probably wasn't the best decision but there was NO WAY I was going to miss it.  It was a fun and educational day despite the high humidity. 

Things we learned today:

• Tons of details of Hong Kong's history, from British Colonization through its return to China in 1997 and that it is in a 50-year period of "one country, two systems" rule (it's unknown what will happen to the current Hong Kong governance in 2047).
• Seven million people live in Hong Kong, but only about 7% own their own cars.  Everyone else takes public transportation.
• You can make $10M per year in Hong Kong being an English tutor. They're treated like celebrities.
• Kowloon (the area we stayed in) is very similar to our Hollywood.  Ski said Hong Kong Island is much like Manhattan and Kowloon is more like the Bronx as far as the educational focus
• Hong Kong has its own SoHo district. 
• Chin-se residents are aware of the one child policy but they do not know that children are available for adoption.  This policy does not effect Hong Kong. 

Upon our guides recommendation, we rode the #15 bus to Victoria Peak.  Good gravy.  I was about to curl up into the fetal position.  Riding on a double decker bus up a tiny little windy road "secured" by short railings was not comforting this Momma AT ALL.  However, once we were there I (mostly) forgot about the ride up.  The views were simply breathtaking...

We rode the tram down from the peak, caught a bus and then rode the MTR back to our hotel.  Jay enjoyed reminding me that we were UNDER the harbor on the subway back to Kowloon.  :/  This is why I am not a city girl.  Although I will say Hong Kong knows a thing or two about public transportation. 

We came back to our hotel, freshened up, had dinner with our friends and then called it a day.  We were planning to go down to see the light show on the harbor at 8 pm but Wild Man and I were out COLD once we walked back in the room.  I'm disappointed that we missed it but there's always You-tube.  :)  Once settled in the Chief Skyped with the girls at home who are having a blast.  Apparently I did too though I don't remember it AT ALL.  I took two Benadryl with dinner.  Obviously they worked. 

We stayed busy trying to conquer jet lag while enjoying the FABULOUS city of Hong Kong.  Now we move on to the real reason why we are here.  Little Buddy.  One more sleep!!

Love to all,
M

China Day 1 & 2: Over the river and through the woods to Hong Kong China we go...

Please remember this blog is a journal of our time in China.  I may write about details you don't care about.  Keep in mind these details are for Little Buddy to read some day.  Humor me...

After a late night of packing what seemed like everything we own we were greeted by a certain blond haired snuggler at 5 am.  I think Little Miss was scared she wouldn't be able to say goodbye so she was up as soon as her eyes cracked a cm.  After hitting the pillow at 2:45, who needs sleep on a day like today?

We were out the door around 7 after a tearful "c-ya later" with the girls.  No goodbyes in this family.  Mei Mei seemed OK this morning but my Little Miss was the one with tears.  Thankfully I held back my own tears until I made it to the car so my sweet girls wouldn't see me cry.  After a Mommy meltdown (or two) in the car I felt a little better.  Wild Man was in the back with me and kept patting my leg and telling me it was going to be ok.  My very wise 9 year old said, "Don't worry Mom.  We are suppose to be his family.  God will take care of us".  How could I argue with that?  A huge thank you to Mr. Lacy's chauffeur service for our safe and timely airport shuttle.  Thankfully he was face forward so he didn't have to witness the ugly cry.  ;) 

Our first flight was on time and non eventful.  We made it to Detroit and had lunch with another adoptive family I met on our China travel group.  We were scheduled on the same flight to Hong Kong and have a tour scheduled together on Saturday.  We can't wait!
 

Our flight to Hong Kong was delayed because a Delta pilot scheduled on our flight was assigned a different flight.  A missing pilot equals a delay for us.  They had to call in someone... from ANOTHER STATE!  Um...hello?  Apparently they didn't know we were ready to get this party started ASAP?  Sheesh.  So we left at 5:15 instead of 3:40 but we made up some of that time in the air because we were only 35 min late here in HKG.
 

The flight was LOOOOOONNNNNGGGGGG as you can imagine but everyone did well. Pretty much non eventful after we finally took to the sky.  I was completely wrong about the "are we there yet's".  Wild Man was a rock star and only genuinely complained once when he was sound asleep but couldn't get comfy in his sleep.  Otherwise he watched movies, played ds and watched movies and ate and slept and played ds.  You get the idea.  He even chose to fore go the last meal because it was sorta gross but he didn't complain once.  YAY! 



You should have seen his face when he woke up and could see on the map that we were almost over Russia. He was SO excited.  He said, "Hey!  That's where Karoline and Misha were born".  :)  He said multiple times that this was one of the best days of his life and kept thanking us "for this opportunity".  I am so glad he is old enough to experience China with us.  I can't wait to bring my girls one day.

The Chief and I were able to sleep/dose for about 3 or 4 hours along the way.  Considering we NEVER sleep more than 20 minutes at a time on a plane that was a HUGE blessing.  It certainly decreased the agony of a 15 hour flight.  Oh.  Note to any adoptive Moms taking this flight soon.  Do not--I repeat--DO NOT decide to watch the movie the Notebook for the first time after an already emotional day.  DON'T.  DO.  IT.  Your ugly cry will show up once more and your husband will certainly look at you as if you've lost your mind.  Again.  :)
  

We landed in Hong Kong around 8:10 pm HKG time (7:10 am Friday at home).  Apparently there is something called cross winds that my dear husband purposely failed to tell me about until after we landed.  Something about landing at HKG international and the wind from the ocean that surrounds it.  I'm pretty sure they are waking up with bruises this morning because of those brief few seconds.  I'm thankful the scariest part of our non eventful flight happened when we landed. 

We took a train to immigration, claimed our luggage, exchanged money, bought transportation tickets and then grabbed some dinner.  What did the boys choose?  Burger King.  :)  Wild Man was so distressed by the numbers he didn't want to eat (even though we knew he was starving)!  A plain cheeseburger was $23 hkd!!  Personally I find currency exchange a little confusing so you can imagine the look on his face when we were trying to explain it to him.  He said our $150 Burger King dinner was "just plain ridiculous".  :) 

We took the Airport Express train into the city and from there a shuttle bus to our hotel.  We arrived around 10:45 pm.  We could have taken a taxi for a little more cost and convenience but we are hoping to give Wild Man as many Hong Kong experiences as possible in our short time here.  What 9 year old boy doesn't think taking a train and riding on the wrong side of the road isn't "epic"?  Epic is his current favorite word and we've heard it MANY times over the past two days...or how ever long it's been since we left.

 
We are spending two nights here at the Shangri-La Kowloon.  It is definitely one of the nicest hotels we've ever stayed.  Wild Man gave it two thumbs up when he saw his own little bed and the mini-bar.  ;)  Don't worry.  We threatened his life if he dared touch those Oreos.  They must be covered in gold instead of chocolate. 

We finally made it to bed around 11:30 pm last night.  I slept until around 3:30 and the boys were up at 5 am.  I accidentally woke them when they heard me talking to the girls at home on Skype.  I was hiding in the bathroom and being extra quiet but it wasn't quiet enough.  Ooops.  I couldn't wait any longer.  Overall the girls are doing really well overall.  We are EXTREMELY proud of them for being so brave!

It is now 6 am Saturday morning and the blog is up to date.  Sonjie will be so proud of me.  Today is our attempt to acclimate to the time change by taking in a little of Hong Kong.  Two sleeps until Little Buddy Day!  Can't wait!

Much love to all,

M

We are here...

Just a quick note to let everyone know we are on the ground and settled in to our hotel here in Hong Kong.  The flight was LOOOONNNNNGGGG but was relatively noneventful.  Well minus a little cross wind when we were landing.  The Chief said he didn't want to tell me about those until AFTER we landed.  Nice.  We are SO proud of our girls at home for being so brave.  We can't wait to talk to them in the morning.  Wild Man had a great flight and is SO excited to be in China.  He said, "Mom, this is one of the best days of my life".   More details and pics to come once we get some sleep.  Nighty night from China.

Love to all,

M

Two excited Womble's...

The other is in the row in front of us. :)  M and M we love you to the moon and all the way back to China!  We'll be home soon!!!!  Wheels up...

Here we go... again...

NEVER in a million years did I think I would ever type those words.  Here we go... AGAIN.  Do you know how much my heart is bursting with joy tonight?  Here we go... AGAIN!  In a few hours we are boarding a plane to China.  Me.  The Chief.  The Wild Man.  On a plane.  To China.  Together.  Not for a vacation or a mission trip.  Nope.  Not this time.  We are boarding a plane to China to meet our Little Buddy!  I can honestly say I am still in pure shock and awe.  Disbelief.  We're going to China for our SON!  UN. BE. LIEVABLE.  (spoken in my best Fancy Grace voice--that's for you Lisa).

I remember the night before we left for China to meet Mei Mei.  While everyone else slept I sat behind this computer screen and poured out my heart.  I still can't read that post without a lump in my throat.  It was a written avalanche of emotion.  I was completely overwhelmed with fear and joy all rolled into one crazy Momma.  Tonight I just feel eerily calm.  Don't get me wrong.  I still have fear and joy all rolled into one crazy Momma.  It just feels different this time.  Apprehension, joy and yet a sense of peace. 

For me the hardest part of this process is leaving half of my heart on this side of the world.  It is, and always will be, my ONLY reservation in the process of international adoption.  If you are a parent you can understand where I'm coming from.  Yes, attachment and bonding are HARD.  Grafting together as a family is HARD.  Leaving my beautiful princesses behind for a total of 14 nights?  Almost more than this Momma can handle.  Yes, I've done it before but I can assure you it isn't any easier this time.  God is still the same God.  He still loves my family more than I can comprehend.  But. I am not perfect and will not pretend to be.  Leaving my girls breaks my heart.  As in rips it out and stomps it into a million pieces.  As in it brings about the ugly cry.  The one with the uncontrollable sobbing and the red face and the shaking.  Be thankful you aren't here with me at this moment.  There are a few who have experienced said cry so they can attest to the name.  It's not pretty.  Thankfully the only one who is seeing me at this moment is the same One who orchestrated this whole thing from beginning to end.  I think He is big enough to handle little ole me and my Mommy tears.  I may be afraid but I know in my heart we are doing what is good and true and right.  As my sweet friend Colleen reminded me last week, just because we do what God asks us to do doesn't mean it will always be easy.  Sooooo true.  Lord, I know I've asked this before but I'm going to ask once more.  PLEASE wrap your big arms of comfort and peace around my baby girls.  Keep all of us safe.  Give them patience and perseverance each day.  Please remind them that YOU are their strength...not Mommy and Daddy.  Please remind them that we LOVE them with every ounce of who we are.  Please give them hearts of compassion through their new brother and bring us all back together as a family of six. SIX!!!  Oh my goodness... SIX...  Amen.

Thankfully my sweet girls will not be hanging out on their own for the next 14.5 days.  They will be spending their days on Camp Womble Girl Adventure.  I know they are going to have a BLAST!  What a blessing it is to have people in our lives who are willing to do WHAT. EVER needs to be done while we are away.  We have had several generous offers and we are SO grateful.  Friends who have said nothing is too much... tell us what to do... we will do it.  Do you know what a relief it is to have that?  To know you don't have to worry about your children because you know every single one of them will do exactly what they said they would do with joy?  ABSOLUTELY PRICELESS blessing from God. To each of you... those who are and those who offered... THANK YOU!  Words can not express our gratitude so I will not try at this moment or I will certainly combust into the ugly cry.  Again.  Please meet them where they are and love them as if they were born to you for this time. 

In a few hours I'm boarding a plane with the two most important men in my life to meet the third most important "little buddy" in my life.  If you haven't read Jack's story, you should.  Not because we are searching for accolades.  We aren't.  We're a regular every day family just like yours.  You should read it because it's one big jigsaw puzzle that our amazing God put together all by Himself.  Do you know how many prayers I prayed for this day?  Do you know how many tears I cried truly knowing and BELIEVING God had another child for our family but someone hadn't "gotten the memo" yet.  ;)  Do you know how He answered my prayer so OBVIOUSLY even the man who said "NO MORE!" put his YES on the table.  He got the memo loud and clear on October 13 and we are boarding a plane one day short of 9 months later.  How's that for a "paper pregnancy".  And you know what?  I can't take any credit for it whatsoever.  Nope.  God didn't need my "help" thankyaverymuch.  :)  He did it all on His own.  Thank you Lord for asking me to wait even when I didn't understand.  Otherwise this might've been MY story but now it will always belong to YOU. 

Did you know my first born has prayed for a little brother for SIX years?  SIX YEARS! The first words out of his mouth when we showed him Jack's picture for the first time?  "God heard my prayer, Mommy"!!  Oh yes, the ugly cry showed up at that moment.  How could we NOT allow him to be there on the day God answers his prayer?  What could be more special than that?  Our hope is that God would use our time in China to bond our sons together forever.  We also pray God would use the next two weeks to give Jonathan a heart of compassion for those who need His love and grace.  Will you pray that with me? 

9 months ago we had ZERO dollars in our Mei Mei adoption account.  There were no dollars because we were most certainly NOT adopting again!  WHY would we need any dollars in there?  We stepped out in this journey with a completely empty adoption nest egg and watched in amazement as God filled it month by month. He provided in ways we never imagined.  We scrimped.  We saved.  We sold.  We found unexpected checks in the mail.  We humbly accepted even when it HURT to do so.  We learned things about ourselves, our pride and our dependence upon Someone and something so much bigger than us.  We were reminded that when He quietly whispered "I can do BOTH", He meant it.  It was Him.  All Him.  While I am hesitant to share this story, I truly feel it is too big not to share.  We set up a tax deductible account with Village to Village International for those with the desire to contribute to our travel expenses to bring Jack home.  As most of you know there are MANY fees and expenses associated with international adoption from start to finish but we designated THIS specific account through VtoV for in-China travel expenses only (hotels, facilitator fees, transportation, orphanage visit, etc).  For 4 people x 11 days, our in-China travel bill came to $4490.  The amount in our account on the day the bill came?  $4527!!!!!  God knows I'm a details kind of girl, doesn't He?  Thankfully He's been in the details from day one.  :)       

At this moment there is a little boy on the other side of the world who will soon be our son.  He doesn't care about the details as much as his type A Mommy does.  He has no idea how much his life is about to change.  That's another heartbreaker for me.  This is not my first rodeo so I know what the weeks to come may entail.  I won't lie.  I'm in limbo.  If you walked the road of Mei Mei's adoption from day one you know why.  A grieving child brings heart break to everyone involved.  I can't help but play the what-if game.  What if he rejects me too?  What if this is a repeat...same song different verse?  What if?  I know I can't go there.  I know.  So Jay and I have chosen, together, to choose joy even when uncertainty looms.  I will just keep praying it will be different and hoping for an easy transition for our little guy.  They do exist as I've witnessed several over the past year within our circle of friends.  Selfishly, I guess I want it to exist for us too but I know there are no guarantees.  Please pray for our little Jack.  He is leaving behind all he has ever known with only the clothes on his back.  Let's pray for more smiles than frowns.  More laughter than tears.  We have not because we ask not, right?  So I'm asking...

I wonder how I ended up here?  I mean, REEEAAAALLLLLY?  HOW did I get here?  Lord, why did you choose me?  Why did you choose me to pour out these blessings into my life?  My life could look SO different today but you had plans for me I couldn't fathom as a little girl.  Every heartache and failure.  Every broken dream.  You saw all of them and you've redeemed them one by one.  Thankful doesn't even begin to describe where my heart is tonight.  To have a husband who I am certain will love You AND me for all eternity.  The blessing of becoming a Mother in two different yet equal ways.  Two babies who grew beneath my heart--who I held in my arms in their first moments of life.  Two babies who grew in my heart--who were born to another yet I have the privilege of being the one they call Mommy.  I do not deserve these blessings.  Yet I am grateful You chose to give me the desires of my heart.  I will never know how to express the gratitude I feel but I will spend the rest of my days praising and delighting in You for the blessings you have gifted to me. 

So, here we go... AGAIN!  The alarm will come soon and there is still much to do.  I have to say goodbye to my girls.  Oh Lord........give me the strength.  Three years later and goodbye's are still not my thing.  M and M... we love you around the moon and back to China a million times.  Remember to say your prayers.  Use your kind words and your manners.  Be patient and have FUN on you "Camp Womble Girls Adventure".  We will see you in 14 sleeps with your new brother by our side.  That moment can't come soon enough for this Momma.

First, I have to circumnavigate the globe with the men in my life.  Actually, I would love to skip the part about flying 15 hours and 50 minutes one way on a plane shooting through the sky at 550 mph.  Flying will never be my favorite part of this process but it's necessary nonetheless.  Me, the Chief and the Wild Man...  $10 to the person who can guess how many times my boys ask "Are we there yet?"  That includes the big guy and the little guy.  I'll be keeping a tally.  ;)  Also, please pray for those very brave and talented people pushing buttons in the nose of the plane.  Mouths closed.  Eyes open.  No arguing and overshooting the runway, thankyaverymuch.

It only seems fitting to end this post with the lyrics posted on my facebook page the day we said YES to Little Buddy.  Only a handful of people knew the meaning behind these words at the time.  They resonated with my heart that life changing day and they remain true for me in this moment...

I've seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn't ever end
Even when the sky is falling
I've seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That's what faith can do

-What Faith Can Do by Kutless

Next stop... Hong Kong, China! 

Love to all,
M

Be Still my Heart...

About two weeks ago I ordered a custom pillow through China Adopt Help.  Gretchen and Lillian have been a joy to work with for both the update/care package and now THIS!  I created two simple collages of our family...

 

emailed them and voila--a pillow!!  Friday I received word it was delivered to the orphanage and this morning I woke up to EIGHT new photos of our Little Buddy with his new family pillow!!!! EIGHT!!! They are tiny images and a bit grainy but at least I can tell we are in his hands... sort of...

This CRACKS ME UP!
Who are these strange people and WHY did they send me an enormous pillow?
I knew it would be big but had no idea it would be THIS big.  :)

 

I CAN NOT WAIT to meet him and his ENORMOUS pillow.  I think they'll send it on our family day or at least I hope so.  I mean, really, WHAT are they going to do with an enormous pillow of the Womble's? 

Once again, eight new photos and not one smile. However, I THINK I can make out a slight slimmer of grin in one of them. Maybe. Now I know the Chinese are not big on smiling at the camera but I've seen PLENTY of photos with smiling Chinese babies. I now have 28 photos and not one smile. I am caught between a heavy heart and one of complete JOY! I want to make him smile and giggle and snuggle close with that sweet little head of his. I WANT TO BE HIS MOMMY! Today! Ahhhhh... Mommy is running low on patience. Not much longer now... 

Travel Approval!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wooohooooo! Our TA came!! We are requesting a Consulate Appointment of July 24th due to Guangdong province's new passport policy. Guangdong passports no longer have an expedite option on Friday. They aren't ready until Monday which means we can't have a CA until Tuesday. Boooooooo...one more day in China but there's nothing we can do. Hoping to hear about the CA quickly. YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!