Doctors Visits and Chinese Food

We flew into Guangzhou on Friday, and we were so excited to be back with our Holt group.  We barely knew the other families when we went our separate ways but it felt so good to see familiar faces again!
Yesterday, (Saturday) we had Aaron's medical check.  It was a little crazy; there were so many families at this clinic besides our group from Holt.  Parts of the medical exam were worse than I thought - I will just say that it was not a good experience. After the medial check we were able to do some shopping and take some pictures.  The one picture of the red couch is kind of a tradition with Holt, and yep, that is Aaron in the stroller on the side - sleeping :) 

In the afternoon, we had a paperwork meeting and then we all had dinner together at a Chinese restaurant. Aaron loved it!

Today (Sunday) we are going to a Mountain to see thousands of birds - pictures to come tomorrow :) Thank you for your continued prayers!

A Day at the Park...and Pics of the 3 Kids Stateside

Yesterday (Thursday) our guide took us to this huge public park.  It was beautiful and there were older people everywhere dancing and exercising.  Most of the people here live in apartments so they use the parks like their yard and space to do activities. The people were so nice and they loved Aaron :)  The kept saying how handsome and smart he looked.  We all had a lot of fun, I played badminton with a lady - she was good!, Ryan did some exercises and learned how to do a Chinese yo yo, and Aaron played and charmed everyone.
 
Today (Friday) we are packing up and moving on to Guangzhou, and we are so excited to see our Holt families!  So please pray for safe travel.  One last stop before we head home - one more week :))  So ready to hold those three in my arms!  There are some pictures of them attached too, they look great:)

Chinese History Lesson and Some Brave Wanderings...

Yesterday (Wednesday) we went to a Chinese Pagoda.  It is this big Pagoda with drawings and paintings on the inside, it all goes along with this long poem a man wrote hundreds of years ago.  It was neat and we got to learn a little more about Chinese history.  While we were there a lady told Ryan how much Aaron looks like him :))  Our Holt guide, Lisa, is great.  She is from Nanchang and so she is able to tell us a a lot about the area and some more recent history. 

After we had lunch at the hotel we decided to get a taxi and venture out on our own.  I think our guide was a little concerned, but we went anyway and had a great time exploring down town and we even crossed a couple of streets and survived!! We found a little bakery and coffee shop - we needed that :)

Today (Thursday) we are going to a park and then we will probably go our on our own again instead of staying at the hotel. Tomorrow we head to Guangzhou!! Yeah!

Please keep our kids at home in your prayers, they are at our home with Granny now, and they are missing mom and dad :(  Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support.

Long day...Long drive!

Today (Tuesday) was a tougher day.  In the morning we drove out to Feng Cheng City where Aaron is from.  We were told that it was about a 20 minute drive, turns out it was about and hour and a half drive.  But we really enjoyed the ride, we got to see some of the country side of China.  There were lots of green rice patty crops and water buffalo.  When we got there we went to the hospital where Aaron was found.  We were very much of a spectacle for the Chinese people. Some older men were asking if we were from Russia.  It's probably not every day that they see 2 white people carrying around the most adorable Chinese boy ever :)  After we left and headed home Aaron withdrew from us and went through some grieving - it is hard to watch when you can't do anything. 

We are at a business hotel where there are not any other westerners, so the afternoons are getting LONG here at the hotel.  I think we are going to get a taxi this afternoon and get out of here for a while!
Thank you for your continued prayers, 2 more nights here and then headed to Guangzhou - our last stop on our way home!! :)

Adoption Certificate, More Travels, & Elmo!

The last two days have been very busy so I haven't been able to blog quite as much.  We are now in Nanchang, the capital city of Aaron's province he was born in.  Yesterday (Sunday) not long after we got to the hotel, the orphanage staff came to the hotel to see Aaron and then we filled out paperwork.  Then today started early with running around the city to get adoption papers and the passport papers taken care of.  We saw about 40 other families that were getting their babies from this province as well.  It was wonderful to see some Americans, our hotel is further away and there are no other westerners there :(  It was really funny, these families mostly all had babies - who they had waited 5 years for - and they would hear Aaron calling us Mommy and Daddy, and speaking English - they were so confused, it was hilarious!  The Narduzzi's did such a wonderful job preparing Aaron and he is doing very well with the transition.

Today has been tough for me, really missing our 3 kiddos at home terribly.  I know they are doing great, I just miss them and I am so ready to have them back in my arms.  Please pray for them and us, it is so hard to be apart.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will be going to Aaron's hometown to see the place where he was actually found, so we are really excited about that :)  

Most of the pictures today are of us waiting and running around town for meetings.  The picture of the paper is our Official Adoption Certificate! Yea! We also watched a little Elmo in the room on a DVD and it was a big hit - he LOVES Elmo!

Going Away Party...

Yesterday (Saturday) was a busy day for all of us.  In the morning we had a meeting with Holt, our agency, and we were able to meet all of the other families that are here with us to get their kiddos.  All of the families will be going to different provinces to get their children and then we will all meet up together at the end of the week in Guangzhou (sp?).  So, when we all get back together everyone will have their new children!  
 
We also took Aaron to the doctor today to have his lungs checked out before we leave.  He was doing much better yesterday and last night - so thank you for your prayers!
 
We have been into down town Beijing a couple times in the last few days, and all I can say about the traffic is organized chaos!  There are about 20 million people that live in Beijing and I think we have seen most of them either on their bikes or in their cars!  The foster family, the Narduzzi's, have an amazing driver that drives them everywhere they go.  He is better than any racecar driver in the US - I actually asked him to come home with us :))  But even with ALL of these people on bikes and in cars, the cars getting inches away from each other, and traffic "suggestions", we not once saw an accident - total organized chaos, amazing.
 
Last night, the Narduzzi's had a going away party for Aaron.  They had prepared a beautiful slide show with music of his time with them. It was so awesome to see some of the people that have loved and cared for Aaron, raised money for his surgeries, and prepared him for this time - such wonderful, selfless, caring people.  It was a very emotional night as people left and said thier goodbye's - he is a very loved little boy.
 
Today, we will be leaving and heading out to Aaron's province where we will sign the official adoption papers this evening! It is very exciting, but also very difficult to leave this wonderful family.  We came here to China barely knowing Deanne, Mario, Nico, and Talia, and we are leaving as family. We are so thankful to God for orchestrating this whole situation - nothing has happened here by mere chance.  Most of you know of our fostering and having to say goodbye to the girls last year, and we know how hard tomorrow will be on this amazing family.  So, we would really appreciate your prayers for the Narduzzi family and Aaron as we leave here, their hearts are going to be hurting as they say "see you soon".  We have already made plans to meet in California next summer J