Tender Mercies

We were able to go to church today here in Communist China. I was so happy to get the information for where church was from my cousin Stephen (yet another tender mercy that just fell into place!) and it was actually really easy to get there! When we asked our guide to help us she asked what church it was, we told her it was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and she said; the Mormon's?????? And then she shook my shoulders and kind of shook me and said over and over "no Mormon's here, no Mormon's" it was kind of funny, because I just kept saying, "it's ok, it's ok, just call this number and they'll explain it to you!" Finally, she called the Branch President and he talked to her and explained everything, then he asked to talk to me and the first thing he said was "you can't bring her with you if she's a Chinese National" and he said it could be really bad for the church if we attempted that. I told him we wouldn't and that we'd come by ourselves and then he was happy to give directions and tell her where to send us. I knew the government had very strict rules concerning religion, but I don't think I realized how secret it actually is until we went to the building where the branch meets. It is on the seventh floor of an apartment building in two suites. The hall was very very dark and until we could hear music coming from a door that was closed, we had no idea where it was. When we heard the hymn "Guide Us Oh Thou Great Jehovah" we all felt so happy and at peace. We walked in and sat down on some lawn chairs that were set up with a makeshift podium at the front and two deacons and two priests sitting at a small table for the sacrament. I know the talks were important, I heard what they were about, being disciples of Christ, Faith and Staking your life on the principles of the Gospel, but honestly, I was just so happy to know that the church is the same wherever you go. The Spirit was strong in that little high rise meeting house, a sweet family of 7 sang a beautiful primary song that made me cry. It made me feel at home, it made me feel at peace and most of all it helped me to realize once again that Heavenly Father has guided me through every single process of this journey. In one of the blessings Jon gave me before coming on this trip, he said I needed to find the song that would speak peace to me, that I could listen to and it would bring me comfort and would help me when things were overwhelming and hard. I have been very stressed about so many things these last few months, I have prayed harder than I have in a very long time about more than just this adoption, I have struggled to let go of things, to make sense of some things and to go on even when things were really tough and unknown for me. I thought I knew what song it was, but about a month before this trip I found another one that has been a great comfort to me and i will never ever hear it again without it reminding me that the Lord is always with us, even when we're afraid, unsure, sad or overwhelmed. The closing hymn just "happened" to be this song today at church. It was another "tender mercy" from Heavenly Father to me. I know His guiding hand is over us, I know He has a plan for me and for all of His children wherever they may be, whether it's in small town Utah, or Communist China, He knows it all and He is aware of our every need. I felt Him with me today, even for things as little as a special song being sung, or us being able to get three taxis without speaking a word of Chinese, without any problems at all, or clean laundry being washed and folded and smelling good in neat little bags waiting for us when we got back to the hotel, or us eating lots of strange food and not getting sick at all, or my children and husband happy and healthy at home, or a group of travel companions who are good people who help me to want to be a better person, amazing family members with me here in China and supporting me at home, and a sweet baby girl who already recognizes me as her mom, who was well taken care of in her previous home, who is tiny but healthy and happy. My life is full of tender mercies and I am so grateful.

Medical Exam and Shopping!

Today Eisley had her medical exam that will allow her to come into the United States. When we arrived, it brought back very unhappy, unpleasant memories of my childhood of cold, antiseptic offices with lots of people in masks and white coats. Lots of crying children, alcohol scented rooms and yucky little exam cubicles, I really couldn't get out of there fast enough! The Dr or practitioner or whatever he was looked her over and checked her ears, throat, nose, heart etc. It was a quick but relatively painless exam but she hated it! I am sure she has been through numerous medical check ups and wasn't at all happy about having more of them! He said she seemed a little undernourished and was definitely small, only about 16 lbs. But other than that and her obvious cleft lip and palate, she seems very healthy! YAY!
We did a little shopping on Shamian Island at a place called Jordan's. The guy who runs it was so so cute, and obviously deals with lots of Americans and adopting families, he was very helpful in getting us a taxi, and wrapping all our stuff in the huge big suitcase we bought for all the things we want to bring back. We ate at a little American diner called Lucy's, which even had American Apple Pie, it tasted really good!
Right there on this Island is a beautiful garden called the Friendship Garden. it has lots of bronze statues and beautiful trees and flowers everywhere. It even has a little exercise park with a track and parallel bars and lots of outside exercise equipment. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed walking around. There also was a big Catholic church in the gardens, which was odd because we haven't seen any churches at al. The area was actually kind of settled by the British, so the buildings and the church all look like a street in England, it was really nice.
Tonight they are having a Halloween party in our hotel and they have it all decorated downstairs in the lobby. When you first walk in the doors, there is a big huge table where there is usually a nice flower centerpiece, well tonight they had a large jar filled with live eels, another jar filled with big black beetles (hundreds of them) and two big bowls full of big black frogs. I thought it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!! It made me miss my Halloween stuff and my party I would normally be having tonight! We will do a little trick or treating in the hotel with our group though, and she will be dressed up, after all, she is my daughter, and I will teach her the importance of having a blast on Halloween!!!!
It's been a great day for Eisley. She is really coming out of her shell, and acting like a teeny tiny perfectly normal 18 month old, she has a little attitude, she is stubborn, she knows what she wants and will fuss until she gets it! She likes to walk, not be in a stroller, and she likes to be held the second she wants it, and throws a fit if everything is not on her terms. She likes to sing, but doesn't talk, and mostly hums little tunes, it is so cute! She sticks her tongue out and points to you if she's happy or recognizes you. It's amazing how in such a short time she has me and her aunties literally wrapped around her little finger, she's a little monkey, and a very very sweet one!!!!!

Leaving Zhengzhou

We left Eisley's birth city today. I hope I will be able to remember some of the sights, sounds and smells of her city. It really is a huge place, very very busy, with lots and lots of high rise apartment buildings, stores, industrial type buildings and literally millions of people. It was very very clean for the most part, with nice trees and gardens planted along the roads. The people in general in China are not really polite or happy, they seem hurried and it seems like the attitude is "survival of the fittest", they have no concept of "waiting their turn" or "washing hands " or "using toilet paper" or "staring very very boldly". Even though I find that to be very disturbing, all the people at the hotel, all our guides, all the people I observe with children are very very nice. My favorite part of her city was going to the place she was abandoned, Gaoxin village. it was real, it was very raw, it was so NOT touristy and so "every day life". I hope I never forget the smell of the water, the smell of the haze and smoke, the taste of the dumplings and noodles and pumpkin soup and especially the yummy homemade vegetable and pork purses the orphanage director gave us after we visited her orphanage. I hope I never forget the crazy busy streets with the motorcycles driving in every direction, and the bicycles with their huge boxes and bags and stacks of things piled up on the back of them. I know I will forget some of these things, but I will never forget the most important thing, my daughter was born here, she has heritage and history here, she has a story that began here, and I will be able to tell her about it someday, and let her know she comes from a beautiful place!
We arrived in Guangzhou tonight to begin all the American paperwork to come home. We will be here for 5 days. We are in a gorgeous Marriott hotel with a McDonalds right across the street. I am not normally a McDonald's fan, but I'll tell you what, the Big Mac I had for dinner was delicious! The whole flying things was a little bit of a circus with all the bags, all the babies, all the carts and carriers and paperwork. We are exhausted and ready for bed, I am not really looking forward to the medical exam tomorrow, I have a feeling Eisley won't be too thrilled either, but hopefully we can find some really fun things here, I've heard there's a great squeeky shoe store, that may be dangerous, considering my tendency to over do it when it comes to shoes….oh well, we only get to come to China once right???

Sweet dreams from Guangzhou!!!!!!

Another Beautiful Chinese Day!!!

We got up early today and headed out on a bus to go see the Shaolin Temple which is where the martial art of Kung Fu was founded. I wanted to see as much of Eisley's home province and country as possible, so I'm glad we went. We travelled for about 2 hours to get there and a lot of it was in the city. I can't believe how huge this city is, it just keeps going and going and going. Finally we got out of it and started getting into the mountain regions. They are beautiful. The mountains are huge and there are lots of trees and when the haze from the city cleared a little it was a beautiful day! We stopped for a little squatty potty break, which is one the best things about China, truly !!! HAHAHAHA! Then we arrived at the temple where 8000 boys practice Kung Fu daily. It was really hard to understand our guide because he had a lisp and a very very thick accent but from what I learned the boys leave home and come live at this huge school. They run for two hours every single day and then practice. They are formed in groups where they can move up and then one person is chosen to be the best out of the group. He then can get a really great job as a bodyguard or some other high ranking security type job. It costs their parents lots of money to send them here and they also learn basic schooling and I assume some sort of Buddist religion since there are monks all over the place. We walked a lot and up lots of stairs. We saw lots of big Buddhas and learned that Chinese Buddhas are chubbier and smiling with their arms folded, the other Buddha that is normally seen is an Indian Buddha which is skinnier and has it's eyes closed and hands together in meditation. We also learned that Buddhism is all about balance, peace and serenity and this really was a peaceful place. There were lots of people, pushing and shoving, which we have come to realize is very very normal. I had quite a few Chinese ladies come up and try to cover Eisley's legs and kind of shake their heads at me like I was doing something wrong and I just kept saying "it's ok, it's ok" they are very particular about bundling their babies and usually the poor things are sweating so bad, they must be so hot!!! I even had a monk come up and try to get me to put her down because he thought she obviously shouldn't be with me but then our guard explained why all the American's were here with Chinese babies and then he said "oh, very very good!" I really liked the temples and little pagoda's and statues all over, and the gardens were beautiful. There are big statues all over and incense burning at every entrance to the next phase of the temple. It is surrounded by such gorgeous scenery and it was a nice little oasis from the very busy city life we've been around the last few days. We got to see a Kung Fu Show which was fun to watch. They really are very talented and very very strong, it is obvious this is not an art that is taken lightly here.

Eisley was very good for most of it, her little personality is showing up more and more. She does not like to sit, she wants to stand and be held, when she doesn't get her way, she throws her head back and kicks her little legs as hard as she can so it's pretty hard to hold her. For being as tiny as she is, she is very strong and stubborn! She should fit right in! She is a great little eater and is very friendly and happy and waves to everyone! She uses some sign language which I'm sure she learned at the Healing Home, she says more, hungry and a few other signs that we can't figure out. She doesn't vocally say anything at all, except maybe mama and lala, she tries to sing when someone is singing and dances a little, it is so cute when she does that! I am anxious to see what the Dr says about her cleft palate and lip, I think her lip looks great. She has about 10 teeth, it's hard to tell for sure, and the roof of her mouth is completely wide open. She can't suck a bottle very well, but if I sit her up a bit, she seems to do ok. She is so sweet and so beautiful, I am just so grateful for this opportunity. On the way home from the temple today everyone in our group was singing and talking. We had such a great time, I am with some really amazing people. All of us are so different, but I am blown away by the goodness, kindness and Christlike qualities these people have. I have loved getting to know them and learning their stories and meeting their children. I feel like there is a reason we were all put in this group together and I am so happy to have gotten to know them! I am also so very very grateful for Loreen and Becky. They are troupers, carrying around bags, taking a billion pictures, supporting me in all my craziness and helping me a ton. You would think three grown, very experienced mothers would be able to get it all together and take care of one very small toddler, but we work as a team to give her her bottles, dress her, bathe her, feed her and help each other. I wish I could have them at my house when I get home to help me because they have been lifesavers to me on this trip. We gave Eisley a bath last night (which she really really hates) and we were trying to help her to calm down so we decided to give her a "spa" treatment and I held her with her head over the bath in her towel all wrapped up while they washed her hair and massaged her head. it was hilarious because Eisley was just in heaven. I won't be able to do the spa treatment at home alone ha ha ha! And they help me when I lose my phone and every other new mom scatterbrained thing I'm doing. I will have to get it together when I get home, but for now, I'm very grateful to have them be my brains and my packhorses! They are wonderful and I love them and their sweet families for letting them come with me and sacrificing their busy lives to help me on this incredible journey! I miss my family and home, but I'm so happy to experience all that I'm experiencing-what a wonderful opportunity this is!!!!