Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Monday, October 27, 2014
Consulate Appointment & Safari
Today was our Consulate appointment - our very last part of paperwork while here. AHHH - Hallelujah!!!! Such a good feeling! Assuming all goes well, we will receive our visa for Roy tomorrow and then fly out on Wed morning. We can't wait! Once we land back in the states, the first minute Roy puts his foot on American soil, he becomes a US citizen. Woohoo!!!
After our appointment, we went to the "Safari Park" zoo - it was unbelievable! You are sooo close to the animals! We saw pandas, koalas, tigers, lions, bear, giraffes & elephants - all super CLOSE! It was very hot while there, but really had a good time.
At one point while there, we became mini celebrities - these high school kids just came out of nowhere and starting snapping photos of us. I just had to snap a photo of them taking one of us!
We are sooo sooo excited to get home!
Curious how it will go with flying over 15 hours with a toddler!
Please pray he does this the whole flight:
hee hee (that last sentence was added in by Dawn's cousin:-)
Seriously, please pray for the loooong trip home!
thanks!
~Dawn
After our appointment, we went to the "Safari Park" zoo - it was unbelievable! You are sooo close to the animals! We saw pandas, koalas, tigers, lions, bear, giraffes & elephants - all super CLOSE! It was very hot while there, but really had a good time.
At one point while there, we became mini celebrities - these high school kids just came out of nowhere and starting snapping photos of us. I just had to snap a photo of them taking one of us!
We are sooo sooo excited to get home!
Curious how it will go with flying over 15 hours with a toddler!
Please pray he does this the whole flight:
Seriously, please pray for the loooong trip home!
thanks!
~Dawn
Pearl Market
Yesterday, we went to the Pearl market - It is a mall full of jewelry stores! Very fun to see!. While there we bought a pearl necklace for Roy's future wife. That gave me so much joy to do.
We then went to a special embroidery store & we bought some special Chinese artwork for our home. We want Roy to always be proud of his first home.
After that, we went back to Shamian Island with our guide and new friends. We even met a gal who was originally from Lancaster, PA! small world!
We have made some dear friends here & so thankful for all the encouragement they have been to us. I really believe God arranged them to be here this same time. Our trip has been so blessed because of them.
Thank you for all the prayers - I have been doing better. Mornings are still intense...but by mid-morning, i'm feeling more optimistic. :-) Please continue to keep us in your prayers. They mean SO MUCH!
We then went to a special embroidery store & we bought some special Chinese artwork for our home. We want Roy to always be proud of his first home.
After that, we went back to Shamian Island with our guide and new friends. We even met a gal who was originally from Lancaster, PA! small world!
We have made some dear friends here & so thankful for all the encouragement they have been to us. I really believe God arranged them to be here this same time. Our trip has been so blessed because of them.
Thank you for all the prayers - I have been doing better. Mornings are still intense...but by mid-morning, i'm feeling more optimistic. :-) Please continue to keep us in your prayers. They mean SO MUCH!
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Saturday October 25
Hi All,
Today we went to the electronic market. It is truly crazy there! I requested this excursion as I thought Mike would enjoy it. It's like a mall, full of cell phone cases, kindle cases etc. One store after another after another. Fun to see again. I got a couple cell phone cases. The one I'm currently using is from my trip last year here. :-)
After that, we went to a Buddist Temple. Beautiful place, it was certainly a unique experience - as a Christian its hard to watch all these people bowing down to Budda & praying & idolizing them. People bring flowers or fruit or burn incense as a sacrifice to the Gods there.
Next up, we went to a vegetarian restaurant where everything was made with tofu but looked AND TASTED like meat. If I lived near this restaurant, I could easily become a vegetarian. Everything was delicious!
After that, we came back to the hotel & readied our paperwork for our big US consulate appointment on Monday. WE.CANT.WAIT!!!
Tomorrow we will do a little shopping on Shamian Island - beautiful place that Mike & I ventured out to last Sunday. Tomorrow we will go again with our guide (and friends )& get any last minute souvenir's.
Roy is still pretty emotional - we are having hard time deciphering if: 1. His way of mourning 2. Being a typical 2 year old OR 3. Being a little emperor. Boys are typically spoiled over here & known as an emperors. We think at night & morning time, he is truly mourning. However, during the day, if there is a change of scene or his doesn't get his way...he will cry till he does. Very interesting parenting a child while you don't speak the same language!!! Hopefully we will see some changes soon.
Wonderful news though! We knew Roy has some motor delays, especially with his arm & hand. Well...our lil guy is amazing!!! he can use both arms perfectly & even can pick up individual grains of rice!!! PTL!!! When we get him home, we will dive into his language delays or see if there is any. In Chinese, he only has a few words he can say. However, we are pretty sure we heard him say "uh-oh" already & that is clearly from us! So...time will tell.
Please keep me in your prayers too. Honestly, today was my worst morning ever. Mike & I even had agreed that I would stay home from sight seeing. It must have been your prayers, but after some toast at breakfast, I suddenly felt ok to go & i'm so glad I did. Please please please keep praying for all of us.
Love,
Dawn
Today we went to the electronic market. It is truly crazy there! I requested this excursion as I thought Mike would enjoy it. It's like a mall, full of cell phone cases, kindle cases etc. One store after another after another. Fun to see again. I got a couple cell phone cases. The one I'm currently using is from my trip last year here. :-)
After that, we went to a Buddist Temple. Beautiful place, it was certainly a unique experience - as a Christian its hard to watch all these people bowing down to Budda & praying & idolizing them. People bring flowers or fruit or burn incense as a sacrifice to the Gods there.
Next up, we went to a vegetarian restaurant where everything was made with tofu but looked AND TASTED like meat. If I lived near this restaurant, I could easily become a vegetarian. Everything was delicious!
After that, we came back to the hotel & readied our paperwork for our big US consulate appointment on Monday. WE.CANT.WAIT!!!
Tomorrow we will do a little shopping on Shamian Island - beautiful place that Mike & I ventured out to last Sunday. Tomorrow we will go again with our guide (and friends )& get any last minute souvenir's.
Roy is still pretty emotional - we are having hard time deciphering if: 1. His way of mourning 2. Being a typical 2 year old OR 3. Being a little emperor. Boys are typically spoiled over here & known as an emperors. We think at night & morning time, he is truly mourning. However, during the day, if there is a change of scene or his doesn't get his way...he will cry till he does. Very interesting parenting a child while you don't speak the same language!!! Hopefully we will see some changes soon.
Wonderful news though! We knew Roy has some motor delays, especially with his arm & hand. Well...our lil guy is amazing!!! he can use both arms perfectly & even can pick up individual grains of rice!!! PTL!!! When we get him home, we will dive into his language delays or see if there is any. In Chinese, he only has a few words he can say. However, we are pretty sure we heard him say "uh-oh" already & that is clearly from us! So...time will tell.
Please keep me in your prayers too. Honestly, today was my worst morning ever. Mike & I even had agreed that I would stay home from sight seeing. It must have been your prayers, but after some toast at breakfast, I suddenly felt ok to go & i'm so glad I did. Please please please keep praying for all of us.
Love,
Dawn
1st Bath
So...it only took us 5 days to get him in tub. 
we gave sponge bath other days & he was NOT HAVING ANYTHING TO DO w/real bath. Would you like having a stranger take off your clothes & put you in tub?? No thank you!!
Don't let these pics fool you-he was screaming like crazy but we thought we HAD to attempt it again. We bribed him whole way through with puffs. It helped, but it wasn't pretty! Now he smells extra good. Extra cuddly to me!
we gave sponge bath other days & he was NOT HAVING ANYTHING TO DO w/real bath. Would you like having a stranger take off your clothes & put you in tub?? No thank you!!Don't let these pics fool you-he was screaming like crazy but we thought we HAD to attempt it again. We bribed him whole way through with puffs. It helped, but it wasn't pretty! Now he smells extra good. Extra cuddly to me!
Friday, October 24, 2014
Mike & the Dancing Grandma's! ;-)
Hi Everyone!
Until Monday, we are pretty much just sight seeing...we are waiting for Roy's passport & visa to be issued. Then, on Monday we goto US consulate & make everything OFFICIAL! ahh. so worth the wait! then, we have to wait 24hrs from them to be safe there were no errors along the way (we should be just fine), then we fly out the 29th!
Today we went to a local park - it is like no other park in the states, that is for sure! There are "Dancing Grandma's" EVERYWHERE! The parks are packed! People doing Ti Chi or dancing everywhere - all elderly. Very surreal to say the least. Mike joined in w/some dancing Grandmas. They got a kick out of it. :-)
As much as the park was nice, it was not totally enjoyable as Roy was VERY emotional today. We feel so bad for him - we are thinking that yesterday was confusing for him? seeing the orphanage & foster Mother? He was definitely not his happy self. To be honest, many crying fits all day. Even Mike was flustered & that is really saying something!!!
We came back for a nap. Roy even woke crying from his nap. Please pray for his little heart - he surely is just so mixed up w/all that is going on.
We went out to eat with another family here adopting their daughter. They are just wonderful & we truly believe God had us here the same week on purpose. It is nice to see them, speak English & go through the days together. With me dealing with post partum...it has been a big help. Please keep praying for me. Mornings are still the worst & I can barely eat any breakfast. With Roy being extra emotional today, that didn't help anything.
Here are some pics from our trip. My awesome cousin is blogging this for me. We send her the stuff in a roundabout way. Crazy-but I wanted to keep you all in the loop.
Love
Dawn
(note: these pictures are from the same day Dawn wrote this I believe... I will try to do a separate post with some pictures & captions from their previous days sometime soon. Sincerely, Dawn's Awesome Cousin... hee hee)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)