Well, this is my last post from China, thank goodness. We have had a nice time but it's nothing like a vacation, it's work mixed in with a little vacation like sight seeing. Of course the highlight was meeting my son for the first time and we will bring home many great memories. Dominic is ready to see his daddy and sisters and for some familiar food. He has done a great job, I'm so proud of him and am glad we brought him. He was so helpful in helping transition Nathaniel over to us. I think he made him feel more comfortable and now he has a new little brother to bring home and show his sisters.

I want to thank everyone for their prayers for Nathaniel and the rest of my family, and for the other families here in China. We felt all of your prayers on our journey and couldn't have done it without out you and of course God! :-)

We would love to see anyone who wants to come to the airport. Our flight gets in on 2/28 at 10:30 pm. Nathaniel is doing really well in new situations and with new faces so I don't think it will freak him out too much. After we get home we will see how things are going but I think we will stay low for just a few days. The only thing we are going to do is not let anyone hold him for a while until we feel like he really knows Bob and I are his primary caregivers.

Thanks too for all of your kind wishes and comments. Bob has told me people have left messages for us, I haven't been able to read them unfortunately but can't wait to when we get home. I have really enjoyed "blogging" while we have been here and hope you all have enjoyed it too. I tried my best to add interesting pictures, I have so many but could only add a few at a time. I apologize to anyone who has agonized over my grammar and sentence structure. I've been a mommy and haven't written much in 8 years, scary thought!

Alrighty then, pray us home prayer warriors!!

Love to all!

Katie

I decided to send another picture so you could see how cute Nathaniel is in his little Chinese outfit. He is doing great. Yesterday he did his first sign for "more" and today he added the sign for "eat". We are going to try and use sign language as best we can with him because of his palate. He is also using his pincer grasp more. Today was the first time he fed himself by picking up food and putting it in his mouth. I'm fairly certain he fed himself bottles at the orphanage but I don't think he was ever allowed to feed himself anything else. He is like a little bird. He opens his mouth up and wants me to dump the food in as fast as possible. I'm trying to work on some of these orphanage feeding issues. This morning he did refuse to eat something by turning his head away. This is great because I want him to be confident that there will always be something to eat and he doesn't have to fill up as much as possible because there might not be another meal for awhile.

He is also so strong. We've noticed that his legs are much stronger than the first day with him and he is just starting to be interested in climbing things. There's not much to climb here but I'm sure he will love our stairs at home. He is busy, busy, busy and wants to see and feel and experience everything.

Something else I've noticed is that when he gets hurt he will now come to me for a kiss. Before he would just whimper and look down kind of sad and then toddle off. He is starting to come to me when he wants something versus crumpling into a pile on the floor and throwing a tantrum.

Just some observations.

Love to all,

Katie

Today was our "red couch" photo. It's a tradition that all adoptive families have their picture taken on one of the red couches here at the White Swan. All of the children are also lined up on the couch for their own photo by themselves. I'm going to really enjoy having these pictures in the years to come, a great way to remember some of the wonderful families we've met. The 13yr. old I mentioned in my previous post also allowed us to take pictures of her. There is one of her with the other younger kids and one with her parents, pretty neat.

In the pictures notice the little boy sitting to Nathaniel's left. His new name is Grady and he is also 18mnths. He was in an orphanage in the North and it sounds like was neglected pretty badly. He has no muscle tone, can barely hold his head up, is not even close to sitting and only wants to be on his back. His parents said he did not turn towards the nanny when she called his name at the orphanage, he can hear but they said he was just never interacted with. When they were given "formula" they said it was basically creamer with a lot of sugar. The poor little guy has lots of baby fat, I'm sure from being given many bottles of sugary creamer, but no muscle. His mommy said when he is over stimulated he will repeatedly hit his head with his hand. They have had him a little over a week now and already they are seeing progress with muscle tone in his neck and he is not hitting his head as much. He also has the best little smile. His mom has been "wearing" him non-stop in a front pack and he is doing really well with that. What a great new family he is with now!

Goodness moment of the day --

I met a family here in Guangzhou, husband and wife and their adopted daughter. She is 13 and is a special needs child/teenager. I can't get these people out of my mind. Their daughter that they adopted has a very terrible story. She has visible burns all over her face so bad that part of one of her eyelids is melted together so that she cannot fully open one of her eyes. Her face in a word is "melted". Her hands are also badly burned and I cannot really get a good look at them because she hides them, but it looks as if she does not have any fingers. Her new father I overheard mention that she was held over hot coals -- just terrible and heartbreaking. Really I don't want to know what happened, I just know she is an example of "the least of these". I mean really, she is burned almost beyond recognition plus she is an older child, not a cute little cuddly baby. Her new mother and father saw beyond the "special need" which is absolutely obvious and always will be and they don't care. They have taken their hearts and given them to her and want to love, love, love. These parents adopted a baby 2 yrs. ago from China with a cleft lip/palate just like Nathaniel's and they saw this girl. God placed her on their hearts and here they are 2 years later to add her to their family. Wow. Please keep them in your prayers. I talked with the father today who told me he doesn't care about her "special needs" but he does care about the discipline issues they have already been having. She is very head strong which I'm sure she has needed to be to survive and I'm sure she wants a family but how hard would it be to be taken from everything you know and placed on a farm in Ohio. She has the world at her fingertips and a family that wants to love her so pray that God fills that family with grace. I wish I could show you a picture, not to show off the "girl that was burned" but to show the goodness, you all know what I mean. I decided not to take one out of respect.

I am going to try and send a picture of another family in the group that adopted a 2yr. old from Tianjin. She is very mall and looks like a 12 mnth old. I think they said she is only 14 pounds. This little one has scoliosis and spina bifida. She will need a few surgeries and physical therapy to get her going but I think she will be fine. She is soooo cute, big chubby cheeks and lovely little lips and a smile that is terrific. They are an awesome family and have a 4yr. old biological son. The mother is from Bogota Colombia and she brought with her her mother and a cousin. They all speak English great because they've lived in the U.S. for a long time but it's a hoot hearing them speak Spanish to each other. Her husband is from Texas and the little boy, Andrew, is bilingual but is just starting to use his Spanish. Their Chinese baby will also be bilingual. How cute will that be, a little Chinese girl speaking Spanish and English!

Today Nathaniel had a physical exam which was a joke. Basically we know he is Chinese! Other than that I learned he is now 23 lbs. When I got him he was 20lbs on the hotel scale so I guess he has gained 3lbs., the kid can eat!

Well, Good night. Talk to you tomorrow.

Katie

We are here in Guangzhou. The families that we started with in Beijing are all coming together again here and let me tell you we are one haggard looking group! A couple of the families have been in the Northern part of China in the mountains. They are exhausted and so glad to see other people. They said they have been stuck in their hotel room for a week without anything to do. In Tianjin we at least got out a bit even if it meant having the life sucked out of us by the very air we breathed!

We are at the White Swan hotel and it is beautiful. There are so many families here adopting children. It's a mix of adoptive families and other families on vacation I think. While we were eating breakfast at the gigantic buffet I was thinking about this hotel. It really is a holy place. I know, "give me a break Katie" but really it is. Almost every family stays here while waiting for their appointment with the consulate. Can you imagine all of that goodness in one place over and over again. All over you see families bonding with and enjoying their new little one. There is also a kinship between all of the adoptive families. We may not know each other but we sure know what each has been through.

Today we ventured outside of the hotel. It was raining a bit but not much and the weather is really nice, just right. When we stepped off the plane it was like we were going on vacation. There are palm trees and greenery everywhere versus the gray, smoggy rubble of Tianjin. We can actually breathe. We walked around a little park area with bronze sculptures, stopped in shops to look at the "stuff" they were selling and even went to a 7-eleven to stock up on water. Tonight we meet up with our original group of about 7 families and get to go to a Thai restaurant. Looking forward to that!

Thank you all so much for your prayers, they truly are carrying us through this journey. We are really worried about the plane rides x 4 to get home. We leave this Thursday, so that would be Wednesday back home. Little Micah the little guy I asked for prayers for who was grieving hard for his foster family is doing great. He has a wonderful family now and they are trying so hard to help him through this time. Each day is a little better for them I think.

Love you all and talk to you later!

Katie (no time to spell check, sorry!)

I hope you can see the pictures I sent this time. The first is a pic of our Tianjin group in front of the orphanage. I left Nathaniel with my dad at the hotel because I didn't want him to be confused. The orphanage director wanted to know where he was so Wendy, our guide, told her a little fib and said he was sleeping because he was up most the night. Whatever works!

The next 2 pics were at the lantern festival we went to yesterday. There were hundreds of people and they ALL wanted to see Dominic and the other children in our group. People were asking to have their pictures taken with him and even sneaking pictures with him, kinda leaning in a little too close while a friend snapped a quick photo. They really wanted to hear him speak but Dom wouldn't say a word he was so freaked out. I don't blame him.. Everyone was nice just inquisitive. It was a really neat experience, I'm glad we went. The baby dressed like an emperor was too cute. The mama seemed okay with having his picture taken.

Love ya all

Katie

Last day inTianjin

Today is our last day in Tianjin. I have mixed feelings about leaving. Tianjin is such a tough place, not very pretty, smells bad, everything looks as if it's in some stage of construction but it's also the birth place of Nathaniel. This is a big deal. This is where he was carried for 9 mnths in his birth mama's womb. This is where he was abandoned at #10 building at 13 days old. This is where he was cared for by nannies who I'm sure loved him and did their best. This is where I first touched my son and got to see with my own eyes how wonderful and perfectly made he is. I am sad and happy for him to be taking him out. He of course has no idea and I'm glad. I want to have some memories to give him so I was thinking about what I might say . I will say how happy I was to come here and meet him and claim him as ours. I will say the people we met along the way from the taxi drivers to the waitresses were so unbelievably kind and helped make our experience wonderful. I might say a bit about the rotten conditions and the smog that stings my face and eyes but it won't be much. I want him to have happy memories even if they are the memories I tell him and not the ones he actually remembers.

Tomorrow we fly to Guangzhou and stay at the White Swan hotel. This hotel is where I think most if not all of the adoptive families stay because the Consulate is in Guangzhou. It caters to families so I think our stay might be a little bit easier there. We fly out on the 28th. I wish it was tomorrow.

Talk to you later :-)

Katie

I talked to Bob this morning and understand my pictures aren't going through. I'll try to send just 2 at a time and see if that helps. What a pain in the backside it's been trying to post to the blog. I think part of it has been my limited knowledge of how to do it. So here are a couple and I'll try to send more later. Katie

Bubbles and Walls

Today we hit the wall. We are ready to go home now that we have little Nathaniel. The hotel where we are at is nice but we need to get outside with these two little boys. We walked to a near by park that was very small and had stretching equipment for adults. We went with another family and they brought bubbles. The boys chased the bubbles and climbed on the equipment and had a good time, nice to get out. We also drew a crowd. People started coming over and just staring. They will stand right next to us and stare and then talk to us in Chinese as if we understand. We just nod and smile. Dominic will have quite the ego by the time we get home. Everyone wants to see him and get him to smile. A few are daring enough to put their arms out for them to hold him. Usually he doesn't go but he did to one lady in the park and she just started squealing. I took their picture and think I added it to this blog entry.

Today we went back to Nathaniel's orphanage to talk with the director and give our "donation." Dad stayed back at the hotel with Nathaniel because I thought it might be too confusing for him to go back. I took Dom with me. It was so sad. I was gulping back the tears as was everyone else I'm sure. We didn't get to see much and were only allowed to take pictures of the outside. The inside smelled like urine, like an institution. We went to two classrooms and there were about 7-8 children in each. They were all special needs kiddos. One group was mostly downes syndrome little ones and the other I think had many different types of needs. They looked well cared for and the rooms were appropriate for teaching from a quick glance but it was still so sad to see these little kids who need a mommy and a daddy. We were given a bag for our children from the director and in it was a Chinese flag, immunization record, a little figurine, and a journal the nannies have been keeping since our children arrived at the orphanage. I can't wait to have it translated

I sent a few pictures this time of the park, the orphanage and the boys in their diapers. Since I can't see the blog I have no idea how it looks but hopefully you can figure it out.

Hope everyone is well!

Katie


(edited by Tom... pictures to follow pending e-mail)

I have had so much trouble posting to my blog. Fingers crossed this goes through. We have little Nathaniel, praise God!! He is just wonderful. They took us to his orphanage yesterday and that's where they handed him over to us. What an emotional experience. Nathaniel was calm as a cucumber but I was bawling my eyes out. The nanny that handed him to me was teary eyed and gave him a little kiss and hug and then left the room. I don't think she was a nanny that always took care of him from what I was told but I think he was well liked by all of the nannies. We saw 2 more nannies that made a point to come over to him and talked to him and gave him a little pat on our way out. He became a little distraught at the sight of one nanny. Such a tough day for him.

He really was very still and quiet for a few hours but after Dom started interacting with him he became more lively. We really saw his sparkling personality last night and today. He has smiling eyes and when he smiles with his mouth, it's a mile wide and wonderful!! He fits into the 18mnth clothes I brought but seems to be at the development of a 12mnth old. I know he will catch up quickly.

We are with 2 other families who adopted from the same orphanage. One family adopted a 2 1/2 yr old boy with a cleft lid/palate and the other family adopted a 2yr. old little girl with scoliosis and spina bifida. The children are just beautiful. The family with the little boy are having a rough time so keep them in your prayers. They are a great couple with lots of energy and are doing great with him but he is grieving really hard. He was with a foster family and slept with a sister so he's really sad.

I'm glad to be getting my son outta here! Tianjin is one rough place. It's mostly industrial and everything is in some stage of repair or disrepair. The smog is horrible! We can't barely see three blocks ahead of us. I don't know how people live in conditions like this but almost everyone has a smile on their face for us. Sadly there are no children. It's strange to see so many adults and only once in awhile will we see a child. There are not many elderly and absolutely nobody with a handicap including deformities. Everyone that is not perfect is hidden away or abandoned like Nathaniel.

Tomorrow we sign more papers as we did today. We also get to go back to the orphanage and visit with the director. I'm hoping she will let us tour and take a few pictures. They returned my 2 disposable cameras I sent a few months ago so I can't wait to have those developed. I am also keeping all of the clothing they sent him in. He was in 2 layers one being a girls outfit! That will all go with his life book we will fill out that my family gave us.

So much to tell but it will have to wait.

Love to all

Katie

Some Pictures!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ENTIRE SLIDESHOW!!!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ENTIRE SLIDESHOW!!!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ENTIRE SLIDESHOW!!!

Hi everyone. I thought I'd sit down for minute before we catch the bus for
Tianjin, do you hear the excitement in my voice. This whole time I keep
saying, "I can't believe we are here." It feels so strange to be in this
experience, the experience I have been dreaming about for 2 years. My heart
is just so soft right now. I could cry at the drop of a hat and the happiness
I have is just so, right there. I have a few worries about tomorrow I have
been praying about. The first worry on my mind is the nuts and bolts of
feeding Nathaniel. I know he's 18mnths and probably quite a self sufficient
little guy but my mommy heart is worried he will need to drink and he wont
have the right kind of bottle or cup or that I won't mash the food up just
right. Silly I know but it's a worry. The other worry is that Dominic will
be very jealous and won't let me take care of Nathaniel. He has been very
clingy to me the whole trip, out of sorts due to the new environment and
really won't let my dad help out. I really want to be the one to take care of
Nathaniel but I will also be relieved if Nathaniel does take to my dad just so
that one of us can care for him. Worry, worry, worry. It will all work out
how it needs to.

The pictures I just tried to send but can't are of the great wall the jade
factory and the cloisonne factory. What I really want to do is take pictures
of people, you know the real stuff. Their faces are beautiful. I don't want
to offend them. Maybe I can exchange a photo for a postcard my dad brought.
Maybe I will just have to be offensive, that might be good for me. Well,
gotta go Dom's melting.

Katie

Wow, we are here and I'm really, really tired. We got here last night after our plane broke down in Denver and we sat in it for 2 hours, NOT MOVING, until they decided it was unfixable including the dent they found from the night before where it apparently had hit the landing strip too hard when coming in. Yep, glad we switched planes but that meant we had to overnight in San Francisco.

Today was our first real day in Beijing. I'm really glad to be here and am loving all of the smells and sounds again. The people are so nice as I remember and they love Dominic. Today a couple of salesgirls surrounded us and then held him, while we closely watched, and cooed, and oohed and ahhhedd. Then he smiled at them and one ran off and brought him his very own set of red chopsticks that even have their own cloth carrying case. Dad figures we should start using him to knock the price down a bit on the things we buy.

We started our day at the Jade factory where we learned all about jade and could watch them carve it. Then went into a room where we were encouraged to buy some so we bought a few things. Then we went to the great wall of china which was spectacular then to lunch at the Friendship Store/cloissonne factory. All of those pictures I have on another memory card and will try to post later. After that we went to the "Sacred Way" where the emperors are buried. There we saw many beautiful statues and found out that each was carved out of one piece of stone. The guide told us that if the person carving them messed up they were killed, no second chances. Talk about pressure! After the "Sacred Way" we drove buy the olympic village and birds nest and water cube which are a part of the olympic village. Took some pictures as we drove past, got honked at a few times, narrowly missing hitting many pedestrians and people on bicycles and made it safely back at our hotel. We tried to have Peking duck tonight but Dom was just too tired so we at here at the hotel.

I'm am so sorry for any typos and if I don't make sense but I'm really tired. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Tomorrow we take a bus to Tianjin. I'm so excited to see and actually be in the same city as my son. So close. The next day I get to have him in my arms. That will be Sunday there but Monday here I believe. Alright. Keep us in your prayers everyone. I love you Bob and kiss the kids for me. Me and Dom miss you guys so much!

I can't see my blog so I'm hoping all of this goes through alright.

Katie

Packing

I have been packing for what seems like years. When we were matched with Nathaniel last July I started gathering everything I thought I might need; cleft bottles, soft sippy cups, clothing, gifts and stashing them in my daughter's bedroom. When we got the actual o.k (travel approval), an excrutiating 6mnths after match, I dug out all of my little finds and have been shoving them (lovingly) in to as few suitcases as possible. So far I'm up to 2 checked baggages and 2 carry-ons. I thinking about adding an umbrella stroller and a backpack to the mix just in case there are needed. The backpack may have to stay but touring the Great Wall of China may prove to be a very interesting experience! I'm not sure if what I have is good or bad, luggage wise. I'm packing for three of us for 2 wks. Rumor has it some adoptive parents manage to get everything there as carry-ons only. LIARS! O.k. maybe not. The last time I was in China I managed to only have 1 carry on and that was for 2 weeks too. I think what I have will be fine. One suitcase is almost entirely gifts which I will give to nannies and others helping with the adoption. I can load it up with gifts to bring home to the family and for Nathaniel later in life.

In the meantime while I've been packing and figuring this blog thing out mykids have been watching lots of tv. Scooby Doo has been a great nanny!

Must go pack, do some laundry and help Bob with dinner!

Katie

Sending message to blog from dad's laptop.

The kids at Christmas this year. Nathaniel was with us in spirit.

My dad and a huge fish he caught in Canada.

Trying out my e-mail to blog so I can send info.