We’re in Guangzhou!

Hi everyone! Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve emailed. We got into Guangzhou late on Friday night our time and it’s been a little busy ever since. We’re staying at the White Swan Hotel, which is where most of the adoptive parents stay when they come through here and it’s absolutely gorgeous! They have a huge koi pond and waterfall on the inside of the hotel and it sits right on the Pearl River so it’s absolutely beautiful. Much nicer than the other hotels we’ve stayed in.

So on Saturday, we all met up in the Swan Room (as the other family in our group is staying in a different hotel), which is the cutest little play room right in the hotel for all of the families to bring their children. We had to do some Visa paperwork, which took all of ½ hour thanks to our awesome CCAI guide, Jason! I have to say that this is really where you want to have a rockin’ agency – in country! SERIOUSLY! In Chengdu, 1 lady who was traveling alone got held up because she didn’t have a certain piece of paperwork that her agency didn’t tell her about and we breezed right through every part. Jason made the Visa paperwork easy and then walked us through getting Jasmines’ Visa paperwork and her doctors’ visit.
So the visit to the doctor was an interesting experience! Jasmine has to have a physical for her Visa/immigration paperwork. There were about 50+ other families there who were also adopting and so it was total chaos in the clinic! Once again, I was so thankful for CCAI because Jason walked us through each station and we were able to breeze right in and out of that clinic no problem. Because he had done whatever paperwork , we were able to jump ahead of those 50 other families who didn’t have that paperwork completed when we arrived! So, a word to the wise – if you’re planning on adopting internationally, find out about their in-country process. Do they have reps in-country that actually live in-country who can walk you through things? How happy are the families who adopted? If the in-country experience wasn’t good – run!

So, once we finished with the clinic, we were off for the rest of the day. Lily and I tried to go swimming while Jasmine was sleeping but realized that the pool wasn’t heated so it was a cold 50 degrees or so. Oh well! On Day 3 in Guangzhou, which was yesterday, Jason arranged a cultural tour for us. First, we went to a Buddhist monastery, which was about 800 years old. Apparently, everyone heads to the temple to pray or do whatever to make penance for the past year and start fresh for the next year. So, needless to say, the monastery was very crowded w/all sorts of people making their offerings to Buddha and praying to him. I originally thought it would be interesting to go and when we were told that the priests would give the babies a blessing if we liked, thought that would be a nice cultural experience. I have to say that we both wanted to weep over these precious people who were bowing down and worshipping this metal idol. When we got to where the priests were doing the blessing, we decided to refrain, as they were blessing the families w/water that was offered to the idol, not to mention the families were asked to take off their shoes and bow before the idol. I had to walk out, feeling grief over watching people worship this fake god and not the 1 true God. They didn’t know what they were doing was wrong but I could almost feel God’s grief over people He loves, worshiping other gods.

The rest of the tour, other than being in the pouring rain, was less eventful. We got to go to a museum to view a variety of Chinese art, which was really spectacular. The Chinese artists really put other artists to shame with their amazing detail in the their carvings or paintings. It’s really incredible.. After that we went to a store that sells a variety of porcelain, paintings, embroidery, jade and other items – all handmade. Then yesterday afternoon, while the girls were sleeping w/daddy, I hooked w/the girls from our other family group to do a little shopping and haggling! I did pretty well, once I got the hang of things, and would love to go shopping again just so I can try out my newly acquired haggling skills. ☺

Today, we’re going to a pearl market where they have a variety of types, sizes and colors of pearls at a wholesale price. I don’t think we’ll really buy much even though we were told to expect prices 1/6 of what we would pay in the US. It’ll be fun to go, and see what it’s like.

So that’s been our itinerary over these last few days. Physically and emotionally, it’s been much more difficult. We’ve been tired from having Jasmine not sleep well and sore from carrying her in the mai tai and sore from the traveling and rock hard beds. Jasmine’s cold has been getting worse so we finally had to take her to a clinic on the 3rd floor of our hotel (yup, they have a clinic too!). They prescribed a few different medicines for her that seem to be helping so we’ll see if that’ll do the trick. On top of that, Lily’s been having a rough time. Seeing Jasmine adopted and that process has really brought a lot of feelings and questions to the surface about her birth mom, Daisy. She’s been expressing grief over missing her birth mom and being worried about her and wishing that she was with her so that things could feel “normal.” I so understand that desire for “normal”. For the longest time after my miscarriage, the desire to not have that hole in my heart and to have back “normal” was my deepest desire. I eventually learned, over time, how to live with the hole and to accept a new “normal” in my life but that was a huge struggle for me. It’s breaking my heart to see my daughter struggle with that and yet I know that it’s important for healing, for her to go through this process. My dad, who is a social worker, has assured me that this is a good thing that she’s going through this now rather than stuffing it and acting out later so that’s helped us to feel a little bit better. Ultimately, my precious daughter’s healing is in God’s hands and I need to trust Him to heal her as He’s healed me.

So, this has been quite the couple of days and yet, we’ve felt God’s presence throughout all of it and are so thankful for Him, the one TRUE, LIVING GOD! Thank GOD that He is a living God! I can’t imagine how desolate and hopeless life would be if I worshipped a God that was made by man and wasn’t even alive!

Well, Jasmine has started to stir so I’d better get going so I can finally update you all. Thank you again for all of your prayers! You are all making such a difference and I can’t thank you enough for being warriors on our behalf! ☺ I can’t wait until we can see you all again and introduce you to Jing Jing!