Our Journey to Caleb 2007 - Day 6 "Gotcha Day Eve"

Our Journey to Caleb, May 8, 2007 - Gotcha Day Eve!

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Ni Hao!  Well it is our last and final post from Beijing and we are so excited to be traveling to Guangzhou today.  It is about 6:30 am here and Matt and I were sharing our thoughts about "Gotcha Day" tomorrow.  We are so overwhelmed with God's peace and grateful that He has given us this wonderful opportunity.  Thank you for your prayers.  We are definitely feeling every one of them.  We serve an awesome God and ultimately we want him glorified through our journey.  Please pray that Caleb will transition easily and that we will keep our focus on our God first and foremost.  Without him,  we are nothing.  It has been an incredible adventure, learning all about China.  Amy, the history that we are learning is great.  You would love it.  We will bring you back some things about their history.

Thank you again for all your kind words of encouragement.  Mia, Callie is missing you and your class too!  She has enjoyed reading your posts and sends her love.  Miss Scmigg and Miss Hostetter, the kids say "Ni Hao" to the class and that they are learning A LOT!  We miss you all, cousins, grandparents, friends!  We will see you all in about 11 days as a family of 5!

Well, we are signing off from Beijing, we will post tonight when we arrive in Guangzhou.  Please pray for safe travel and that all our luggage gets there at one time!

In His Mighty Hand,

Matt, Allison, Ben, and Callie (and tomorrow Caleb!)

(Part 2)

Well, we are finally here in Caleb's city!  We can hardly believe it!  It has been a long day but we are here.  The flight went well and all our luggage is here and accounted for.  The hotel is spectacular!  We are in a suite and it is beautiful.  The kids are in cots in the sitting room and there is a large master suite.  They even had a crib set up for Caleb.  Of course he is going to be too big for it, but it was a nice touch.  We did find out that we will not get our children till 4:00 tomorrow.  We were a little bummed about that but the Guangdong province only allows 30 adoptions a day and they scheduled us for 4:00 tomorrow.  So we are going to try to get a good night's sleep because we are extremely tired and tomorrow we will get everything unpacked and ready to meet our son!  Everyone is starting to get butterflies! 

Just knowing that this is the last night Caleb will sleep in that orphanage, the last night he goes to bed without a hug and kiss from mommy and daddy, the last morning he will wake up without someone telling him "I love you".  It is a very emotional time for us!  We can't wait to tuck him in tomorrow night, say prayers with him, tell him about Jesus for the first time in his sweet little life!  It is finally here!  Please pray!  Pray for him and this huge transition; pray for Ben and Callie as they welcome a new sibling; pray for Matt and me as we become parents for the third time; and pray that God will be glorified tomorrow in this union that he has been preparing our family for.

We love you all and can't wait to post pictures of our "gotcha" moment!

Goodnight from Guangzhou!

Matt, Allison, Ben, and Callie (tomorrow - Caleb!) 

McDonald's never tasted so good!

Maggie and Callie

2008 Olympic Mascots

Matt & Ben had a serious Big Mac attack!

Last night as a mom of 2!

The beautiful Asia International Hotel

Master suite with a crib!!

Callie settling into the hotel

Our Journey to Caleb 2007 - Day 5

Continuing Our Journey to Caleb - Day 5 - May 7, 2007

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Good Morning to all! It is about 5:30 am and this is our last full day in Beijing. It will be a very full day but as I awoke this morning, all I could think is that tomorrow we fly to Guangzhou, Caleb's city! We are now 2 days and counting till we get our son! They have kept us so busy these last couple of days and now it is almost time! We were talking at dinner last night about "Gotcha Day". All 9 families will get their children at the same time so we will all experience the joy together. We have become very close with all these families in just this short amount of time. I am so in awe of our Lord how he knew what families to place us with. The kids have had a blast and Matt and I are forming great friendships with these families. Three of the couples are getting their first child, one family is adopting their second daughter, and four families are adopting for the first time although they have other children. We are trying to plan out how we can take turns filming each others "gotcha" moment. We are all so excited! Most of these families have been logged in to the CCAA since October 2005. This has been over a 2 year process for them. But now the moment is about to arrive! Please pray for all of us getting ready to be united with our children. Some of these children will have to travel several hours to get to Guangzhou to be with thier families. I am so thankful that Caleb is in the same town and will not have to endure a long trip to get there.

As I spent my time in prayer this morning, I thanked God so much for giving us this opportunity. My heart is so full of gratitude and praise for blessing me with this wonderful family I already have and now to be adding another precious soul to it. He is my strength and I give him total praise and honor!

Have a wonderful day and we will update tonight after our big day at the Great Wall and shopping!

Love to you all!

Allison

(Part 2)

Today was our last full day in Beijing so we went out with a bang! We took a long bus ride to the Great Wall! It is incredible! First we took our group picture and then we had a choice to go two directions; the easy way or the steep, more difficult way. Guess which way we went? That's right, the steep, more difficult way. The easy way had so many people on it, so we decided to try the other way. Most of us got about half way up and enjoyed the view from there but the other half made it all the way to the top. Matt and Ben were among the brave souls who trekked all the way up. I was so worried that Matt was having to drag Ben up there but Matt said it was the other way around! I know they will sleep good tonight. It is so funny that at different stages of the Wall, the street vendors are there trying to get that sale. One of them followed me all the way to the bus, trying to get me to buy some hats. "50 yuan, 2 for 50 yuan, 4 for 50 yuan." Even after we got on the bus, we saw him out the window trying to get my attention. I guess if we stayed there any longer, he would have paid me to take the hats! Well, we finally headed to the Cloisonne Factory and that was amazing how intricately they design those beautiful pieces of art. Everything is done by hand and is spectacular! We ate lunch at the restaurant in the factory. Guess what was for lunch? CHINESE! We are really getting tired of the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We are ready for some good 'ole American food. When we get to Guangzhou, we will have more options!!!!

Next on the agenda, the Jade Factory. We were given a lesson on jade, how to decipher real from fake, carving and design. These are very talented people. After the lesson, we were given the chance to shop. These are also persistent sales people. They don't let you shop alone, oh no! They follow you around. It is so funny! After the final purchases, we boarded the bus and headed back to the hotel. They took us by the site of the 2008 Olympic games and we were able to get some pictures. They are very proud be hosting the games and are working hard to make it happen. During our long bus rides today, Rosa and Maggie gave us lessons on Chinese money, flowers, Olympic mascots, and Maggie even sang us the Chinese national anthem and the US national anthem in Chinese. That was wonderful!

We got back to the hotel and had about an hour before we were to leave for dinner...you guessed it, more CHINESE! Okay, I love Chinese food, but enough is enough. One more spoonful of rice was going to make me scream. Callie and I opted to stay in the hotel, watch a movie and order Pizza Hut. Praise God! Pizza Hut delivers right to your room! Tears of joy overwhelmed me! Ben and Matt wanted more Chinese, so we wished them well and enjoyed our pizza! It was very good!

Tomorrow we fly to Guangzhou and we cannot wait! We get to sleep in and take our time packing up. We will leave the hotel at 12:30 and our flight is at 3:00. We will do paperwork Wednesday morning and get our children in the afternoon. It is almost time! Please keep us in your prayers! It has been a wonderful time and we praise God that we have all been well.

Thank you for all the prayers, we sure do feel them! God is so good and we are in awe of our journey so far! Good night one more time from Beijing, we love and miss you all very much!

Matt,  Allison, Ben, and Callie

The group picture at the Great Wall!

My handsome son on top of the Great Wall of China

Amazing!

One tired group! ;)

They were scared to get too close! lol!

The Jade Factory

The cloisonné factory

Aaahhh....Pizza Hut!

Callie enjoying a taste of home!

Our Journey to Caleb 2007 - Day 4

Our Journey - Day 4, May 6, 2007

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Good Morning!  Well I am glad to say that it is 5:30 am and I am the only one up. We are getting our bodies on China time.  We were so exhausted last night so we slept great!  It didn't even get too hot in our room this time.  We found out that they cut the air conditioning off at night.  That is why we were so hot.  They said that it is still springtime and they like to feel warm. Well I guess after all of floor 15 complained about the hot rooms, they kept that AC running strong last night.  It was wonderful!  I woke up with scripture going through my head this morning. 

"This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Ps. 118:24

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Ps. 46:10. 

Today is Sunday and we will be going to the International church service.  It is amazing to me that they will hold a church service for tourist, but their own people are not allowed to attend.  We have to take copies of our passports to show proof that we are foreign passport holders.  Our guides are not even allowed to go in with us.  Although we will greatly miss our church, we are anticipating a church service in a different country.  What an experience we are in for!  Our guides are so sweet, but we are not sure if they know Christ.  Please be in prayer for us as we form relationships with these wonderful ladies and that we will be able to share the greatest message with them.  Enjoy your day at church!  Worship and praise our Lord and be thankful you live in a country where this is possible.  So many times we take for granted things like going to church every week.  I urge you today to go and celebrate this independence you have; first of all in Christ.   Those who know the Lord are alive in Christ and have eternal salvation.  Secondly, that you live in a country where you can freely worship!  Our God is so good!  We give him the glory and honor he deserves!  We love you all and pray you have a wonderful day in the Lord!

Matt, Allison, Ben, & Callie 

(Part 2)

Today was another unbelievable day!  After breakfast we had some time before boarding the bus, so we decided to walk to Starbucks!  That was wonderful!  Stephanie, I had a Mocha Frappacino in your honor.  It tasted just like home!  We then headed to the church service.  On the way there, our guide, Maggie, shared with us about religions in China.  There are 5 legal religions in China.  Christianity being the last.  She said that it is legal for them to go to church but if you wanted to build a church, you would have to take a class and get regulated.  Sounds like free Christianity doesn't it?  I have to say that the church service was awesome!  It is held in a convention center and is only open to foreign passport holders and they check them at the door.  Once inside, you are together with people from all over the world.  The service was so much like home!  There was praise and worship time and they would sing in Chinese and English.  Hearing the familiar praise and worship songs sung in Chinese and seeing everyone together worshipping and raising hands to the Lord was very emotional.  Just thinking about everyone there from different countries, different denominations, different languages, but serving one God; the ONLY God!  I was so overwhelmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit!  Benjamin told me after the service that it was awesome!  We all agree!  We were able to talk to a few people that were in the service and it was such a neat experience.  I am so glad that we were able to worship there today!  We serve an awesome God!

After the service, we went for more Chinese food (shocker) and then to the Pearl Market.  We thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the pearls and seeing how they put them together.  As we talked to some of the workers, they were of course trying to sell us lots of things.  They knew we were all adopting children and they wanted to honor us by giving us a very good deal.  They are very appreciative of the Americans adopting their orphans.  The lady helping us was trying to sell us pearls for our adopted daughter and when we told her that we were adopting a boy, she was shocked.  At first she didn't believe us but then she called more girls over and told them.  She said "his parents didn't want him?"  They find it so hard to believe that someone would abandon a boy, but not a girl.  Then they just kept telling us, "lucky boy, lucky boy". 

Then it was off to Summer Palace!  It is a beautiful place. The mountains are breathtaking!  Callie was again the celebrity as people would stop and stare and take pictures and some would just want to walk up and touch her hair.  This has been the first foreigner that some of the Chinese have seen.  It was again very crowded and we were shocked to see parents stopping right in the middle of the sidewalk where people were walking and letting their toddler go to the bathroom.  We saw it twice in just that little bit of time.  At least one parent held their child over the storm drain to go.  Needless to say it was very nasty!  Noone seemed to be shocked except for us.  I guess this is pretty common here.  Ha! As we approached the next storm drain, one of the guys in the group asked if anyone else needed to go!  We all declined!

We were able to come back to the hotel for about an hour before we left for our duck dinner.  We are all about ready for a big, juicy hamburger and french fries!  Matt has now taken the kids down to the bowling alley for a little bit while I update everyone on our journey.  I do want to say that today was very moving for us.  Some things are very hard to see, but very necessary for us.  We want to experience what Caleb's homeland is like; the good and the bad.  God has a purpose for his sweet little life and I cannot wait to see it unfold!

Tomorrow we will be going to the Great Wall and doing some shopping.  Thank you for your encouragement and prayers!  We have so enjoyed reading your messages!  Have a wonderful evening!

We love you all!

Matt, Allison, Ben, & Callie  

Ben & Callie overlooking Summer Palace

International Church Service

Having Callie's pearl necklace made!

Our lesson at the Pearl Factory

Summer Palace

Our hotel in Beijing

Aaahhhh....Starbucks! :)

Site of the water sports for the 2008 Olympics

Our Journey to Caleb 2007 - Day 3

Continuing our walk down memory lane through China. Here is our journal entry from May 5, 2007, as we toured Beijing.

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Where do I even begin about our day today? I guess with breakfast. The breakfast buffet opened at 6:30 and we were there at 6:30. As we walked in the door, we noticed that we were the only non-Chinese in the restaurant. We got a few looks, to say the least. There were a lot of "different" things on the menu but we did find things we could eat. After breakfast, we walked around the hotel and checked things out. There is a bowling alley, billiards room, swimming pool and spa! You can get a pedicure for about $7. That is a bargain! We also found the gift shop and got us a Pepsi! It is no Dr. Pepper, but it was great! I have a picture of Ben drinking the Chinese Pepsi (tastes the same).

We met our group at 9:00 and boarded the bus for our big day out. Callie was glad that 2 other little girls were here. Maggie is 5 and she was adopted from China and is here to adopt her baby sister and Macy is 4 and is here to adopt her baby sister. The girls became instant friends! Rosa gave us instructions on the bus about some of the things we would see and what we should and should not do. As we exited the bus, we were awed at some of the things we saw. I had no problem with my kids wandering off. There were beggers all over the street, street vendors, and people galore. It is a holiday in China so there were close to 17,000 people in Tiananmen Square. Probably the hardest thing I have ever seen is the little boy, about 10 years old, wheeling himself around on a board with wheels, because his feet had so many open wounds and were swollen like footballs, begging for money. If that doesn't tell you the conditions here I don't know what will.

We walked around Tiananmen Square and Callie and Macy became celebrities. Because of their blonde hair, people were coming up wanting their pictures with them. They were calling them "angels". They believe this brings them good luck. It was a little humorous! We had heard this would happen so we were prepared with hands on our daughters. Then, Ben had girls wanting their pictures with him! He's the man! We then walked around the Forbidden City, it is huge! Ben got a little concerned because of all the beggers but finally realized just to ignore them. Of course, we did at some point have to use the restrooms and got the experience of the "sqatty potty". You will see pictures! That is interesting. After the Forbidden City, Rosa told us that we were going to have lunch at a local family's home. Well needless to say, that concerned us all a little. But I have to admit, that was one of the most moving times of the whole day. We all got on Rickshaws and headed through the Hutong Disrict of China which is a very poor, crowded place and I have to say, I should never complain about traffic in Wilmington again. There are rickshaws, bikes, cars, buses, and walkers, and it is a "free-for-all". We took the rickshaw back in what looks like an alley that you shouldn't go down, and we stopped at a family's house. We walked in and they sat us around two tables with little plastic stools. They were so nice and that was some of the best food we have had! They explained their culture and how they live. They are considered "rich" because they have a little upstairs to their house. It is very tiny but nice. Our guide for this tour told us about the "one child policy" in China that started in 1979. Now it has been changed to one or two children, but most will not do that because it costs too much just for one child. The government only gives families 1,000 yuan to have a child. That is why there are so many orphans in China.

After lunch, we boarded the rickshaws again and were hounded by the street vendors. They are persistant! We took a tour of the Hutong area and then ended up at the only Deaf Kindergarten in Beijing. Because of the holiday right now, there were not many kids there. These kids live here and have been given the hearing aid and are learning to talk. One of the little girls came and said a poem for us. She is 8 years old and precious! That ended our tour and we headed back to the bus. Rosa told us that this is not usually in the tour for AWAA but because of the holiday, we are here longer than normal and they added this for us. I am so glad they did! This was so awesome to see how this country really lives. It is definitely a different way of life. The atmosphere here is smoggy, very dirty, and smelly! My heart was deeply touched today. I can tell you that I am so proud to be an American. I am glad to know that Caleb will never be a little boy rolling around on a board begging for money. I thank God that he called us! Pray for these people. It is a lost nation and so in need of a Savior.

We will post more of our day on another page because we can only add 20 pictures per page and we have a lot! It has been an amazing day, and all four of us have been touched in a deep way.

(Part 2)

We just got back from dinner! That was interesting too! On the menu: rabbit, duck, fish, beef, chicken, pineapple rice, mussel soup and white rice. Glad I wasn't too hungry. Of course, Ben and Matt tried it all! There was some Chinese dancing that was pretty nice but we are all extremely tired and ready for bed! We did get our bags back tonight! Praise the Lord! Caleb's clothes have been found! Tomorrow we are going to the International church service and Summer palace and the Pearl Factory. We found the Starbucks!!!!!! It is only 2 blocks over so we will be visiting that tomorrow! We also saw the KFC, Pizza Hut, and McDonalds. I don't know if we will make it there. It truly has been a wonderful time so far. We are exhausted, but I wouldn't trade a minute of what we have experienced. This is Caleb's homeland. I want to soak it all in! I have posted the rest of the pictures of today and look forward to posting more tomorrow! Thanks for all the encouragement back home! It means so much to us so please keep it coming! We love and miss you!

Good night from Beijing!

Matt, Allison, Ben, & Callie

Sight seeing in Beijing

Our guides, Maggie and Rosa

Tour of the Hutong District

The "squatty potty" 

Our little celebrity! lol!

Our China Family

Chinese Pepsi

Rickshaw rides

Maggie, Macy & Callie

Precious girl at the Deaf Kindergarten

Deaf Kindergarten