Life with Tulah: Day Two

Afters the great progress the night before, I was really very hopeful that today would be a good day. We started our day out with breakfast, just like every other morning here, but guess what?? She ate!!! Another huge milestone. She dined on oatmeal, apple juice and chicken nuggets! ( I know..... chicken nuggets for breakfast, but you know what they say about desperate times!!)

After breakfast, our guide Cindy took us to Green Mountain Park in Nanning City. She told us that Nanning is known as the "Green" city in Guangxi province, because it has many trees that are green all year long due to the very warm climate here. I am so glad that we chose this place to visit because it really was beautiful! Definitely the most beautiful thing in China we have seen so far (besides our precious Tulah!!) She did great and rode in her stroller the whole time... she loves to be strolled around! And today when we drove in the van, there was no crying or screaming!! Another breakthrough!! Here are a few pictures from the day!!

 

 

 

 

This pagoda was built in the 1980's to replace the one destroyed by the Japanese during WW2. It is nine stories tall and you can see breathtaking views of the entire city. There was also a delightful breeze! We climbed up seven stories and decided that was enough!

 

View of the Yong river and the Nanning Bridge from the Pagoda

 

The Chinese mark each year with they symbol of a certain animal. When a baby is born in a certain year, thier animal symbol is thought to reveal some of their character. Tulah was born in the year of the ox. People born in this year are thought to be alert, determined, stubborn, methodical, strong leaders, they dislike failure and they will make great parents. We have already learned that this sweet girl is always alert to her surroundings, very determined... especially to get something she wants, and yes, even a wee bit stubborn!!

This is our guide Cindy. She was born in the year of the pig.

I was born in the year of the monkey.

And Michael was born in the year of the snake.

We really did have a great day and I just know that each day with Tulah will get easier and easier for he as she gets used to her new family! Thank you all for your prayers!! We can certainly feel them. God has blessed our family above and beyond measure and we are so thankful!!!

Life with Tulah: Day One

Tulah slept wonderfully her first night with us. In fact, we had to wake her up so that we would be ready to start our busy day! When she woke, bless her heart, it was like she had to re-live all that grief she tried to cry out the night before. While she didn't scream or cry much at first, she was very serious and very sad. She would not eat or drink for us and still didn't have any interest in her mama. Thankfully, she did still let her baba comfort her.

First breakfast with mama and baba..... not going to eat though;(

After breakfast, which she still would not eat, we went out to our van and headed out for the day. We quickly learned that she did not like to ride in a car!! She cried the whole way. Our first stop took us to the civil affairs office to complete some paperwork. It was a small, dirty and very hot office and my sweet girl did not like it in there one bit. We tried desperately to distract her with toys, juice and crackers, but nada.... not a gonna happen. She was mad. And then, to make things way worse, in walks in one of her nannies. I tried to shift her from her sight, but she saw her and really wanted her. She of course, did not make eye contact with Tulah, and did all the things she was supposed to I'm sure, but it was really hard for Tulah to have to see her again.

A very hot, tired, and sad little girl

She was very worried that she had not eaten, so she wanted to hold her and try to get her to eat. I reluctantly let her and she did manage to get her to eat a few little cheeze its (already a Hatley for sure)!! After that paperwork was finished, she did present us with a gift made by the children of the orphanage along with a photo album. This was very sweet and a treasure to have. Some of the photos were from the time Tulah was with a foster mom and I had never seen any photos of her from that time in her life.

Once we arrived back to the hotel, Michael decided that he should run out to Wal-Mart and pick up a few things. Up unto this point, she still had not really wanted anything to do with me. But, I distracted her and he left, and guess what.... we very slowly started getting to know one another and she had the best time sorting M&M's and Skittles. This was the very first time that she had even attempted any kind of playing, so I considered this a MAJOR breakthough. I even got her to drink a little more juice.

That trip to Wal-Mart was a major success. Michael brought back Pepsi Max for me (the only thing close to a diet soda here in Nanning), several Cup-O-Noodles and a beautiful, pink stroller. Before the night was over, Tulah had eaten half a cup of noodles and we had taken her on a long stroll around the hotel in her new stroller.... AND SHE LOVED IT!!!! This has been a much needed break for Michael's arms!!

Later that night, she got to play with her very first baby doll! Thank you Drammy!!!

Every day, Tulah is learning to trust us more. For the first time in her life, she has a forever mama and baba..... and we are not going anywhere!!!

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you"

John 14:18

 

"Gotcha Night" Part II

I had all intentions on posting yesterday, but it was a busy and challenging day. I will blog about that in another post. However, though it started difficult, it ended beautifully.... and exhaustingly... and the blogging just had to wait. More on that to come.....

 

Back to "Gotcha Night"... like I mentioned to y'all earlier, Tulah didn't arrive until around 9 pm. I cannot describe the feelings that had "mounted up" inside of me as hour after hour passed and she still wasn't here. But, it was a mixture of pure excitement and nervousness unlike anything I had ever felt before. At long last, the moment finally came, and our guide called the room to say that they were on their way up!! AHHHHHHH!!!! Oh my goodness, when that doorbell rang, I couldn't open it fast enough! And there she was. Tiny. Tired. Timid. Confused. Absoulutely stunning. OURS. Every part of me wanted to grab her as fast as I could and kiss and hug all over her. But, I knew that she certainly did not feel that way. Her nannies spoke to her in Chinese, words I didn't understand.... except for mama and baba. I reached out for her and she came to me!! It was the moment I had been thinking and dreaming about for almost the last year.

That precious moment was soon met by the sounds of a very sad and scared little girl, who didn't fully understand what was happening. I'm telling you, it is so hard for a mama to see her baby, one she loves with all her heart, crying and yelling in Chinese that she wants to leave. The nannies from the orphanage left and Tulah and I walked the loop around our floor in the hotel for 2 hours. She kept screaming and I just kept whispering "Ya Run's mama..... wo ai ni" and singing Jesus Loves the Little Children over and over. She finally quieted down and we went back to the hotel room where Michael and our guide were filling out paperwork. Michael was so careful not to come too close to her for fear of scaring her, but she looked at him and gave him a little grin, and that was all she wrote! She went to her baba and stayed there the rest of the night. It really was a precious site to see them two together, even though I was a little jealous:)

We did video our "Gotcha Night" and I am so excited to have that precious moment on tape to have forever. The moment she joined her forever family. It is a priceless treasure!

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope that we profess, for He who promised is faithful"

He is faithful indeed!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Nanning Day 2: "Gotcha Night"

Patience was definitely the name of the game today! We knew that today would be our "Gotcha Day", but our guide said that she didn't know when, but it would be later in the afternoon. So, ok. We had just come off an excruciatingly long plane ride and we were exhausted, so we were thinking, good we can sleep late , go eat breakfast, check out the area, and then we will get her.

We woke up early.... like at 7:00 this morning. Our time clocks just haven't shifted over to China time yet. Anyway, we got to Skype with the kids before they went to school, so that was great! Then we headed to breakfast. I was going to take a picture of it, but I guess I was so hungry that I started eating and forgot all about the picture! Those who told me breakfast was "THE" meal of the day, you were right! Tomorrow, I shall stuff myself full at breakfast since I don't tend to eat much else during the day.

We took a stroll down the street from our hotel and checked out Super Walmart:) It was SUPER big, but just not quite what we envision Walmart as being! THen Michael found a HUGE mall. Like a 7 story, humongo mall. We walked around looking at everything. He even picked out a pair of shoes he liked, but guess what.... they don't go into sizes that big!! So, after shopping, and purchasing nothing, we went out for lunch which was a little sketchy. Michael says were like celebrities with everyone pointing and staring at us:)

I am just too tired to get into much detail about her arrivial, so I will add a few pics and then update this part soon. More details about Gotcha Night tomorrow! She is beautiful and we are incredibly blessed!!!

 

 

Nanning Day 1

Wow!! Yesterday was a LONG day. We started our journey at about 7 am and headed with my mom, dad and kids to the airport. Our flight left Charlotte at 9:50 am. We had a great flight to Chicago and got one last American meal while we were there:) We left Chicago for Hong Kong at 1:30, and tried to settle in for the LONG, 15 hour flight! We were able to sleep off and on, just not great as the flight was full and we were pretty cramped! My curiousity REALLY wanted to know how much it would cost for one of those nice, roomy, comfy chairs up front.... you know the ones I'm talking about:) Well, the nice man at the counter told me we could upgrade our economy class tickets to first class tickets for oh, about $5000.00 each!!! For real?!? That is insane, but I guess if it were cheap, everyone would be going first class!

Once to HK, we thought we would have plenty of time to eat and walk, before our flight to Nanning. Well, we had to check -in again to get our boarding passes (that took forever), then we had to take a train, 15 different escalators, and a shuttle bus to get to our gate! That airport is HUGE. Oh well for the meal... glad I had packed us some snacks in our carry on:)) We finally got to Nanning about 10:00 pm, after 23 hours of travel. We went through immigration very smoothly and it was a beautiful site when our bags came out first at the baggage claim!! All I wanted to see at that point was our guide waiting for us.... but, I didn't. Oh my! I thought this might be my breaking point that some had warned me about, I thought I might lose it. We were in a foreign airport, nobody spoke English, I couldn't pull up my email..... but then, there she was! Thank you Lord!! We only waited on her maybe 15 minutes, but after that many hours of travel, in a foreign country, that seemed like a REALLY long time.

Our guide Cindy is really nice. Her and our driver got us to our hotel. We are staying at the Nanning Marriott Hotel. For any of my adoption friends, if you are coming to Nanning, this is a great place to be. It took me a while to get the internet connection working and the VPN, but everything worked out and I was able to Skype and FB and email, etc. It is so great to be able to stay in touch with my family back home!!

Tulah day will be tomorrow!!! We don't know what time yet, but it will be tomorrow afternoon or evening!! We are so excited, but it still feels surreal!

Please keep the prayers coming!!

It's About That Time......

All arrangements have been made, last minute do to things complete, Bags are finally packed, many good-byes have been said to family and friends near and far..... it is almost go time!! And as much as I have been dreading the long flight, I am at this moment quite looking forward to it. The stress of packing, worrying if I have everything, wondering if it is too heavy, did I do this, did I do that.....has WORE ME OUT!!!! I am just ready to go... ready to finally meet our daughter.... ready to do this thing and get back so that all our loved ones can meet her too!

 

 

Though the packing, planning, errands and arrangements were tough... the toughest time I fear will be in the morning when we kiss our babies goodbye for 12 days. We have never been away from them for that amount of time before. They couldn't be in any better hands as my mom, dad, sisters, and in laws will be caring for them, but we are gonna miss them like CRAZY. Thank goodness for the invention of Skype, as I really think it will help ease the homesickness by being able to see them! And, of course, for them to get to see their new baby sister!! I made them this countdown calendar to count down the days until we return. Each day has a special note from us!

I can't say thank you enough for all the kind words, sweet thoughts and most of all, the prayers that our family and friends have encouraged us with along this journey. You all have made us feel so loved, so special and so cared for. Thank you to each of you who have helped us reach this point, we could NOT have done it without you. And we are so grateful to serve a God who not only called us to do His work, but has remained faithfully by our side the whole time. We have surely felt His presence throughout this process .

I promise to blog as much as I can while we are in China! I can't wait for you all to see Tulah.... with her mama and daddy!!

God is good all the time!!!!!!!!!!

 

Crazy Busy & China Bound!!!

Over the last week, since we received TA, we have been busy booking our airline tickets, working on packing lists, and nesting like CRAZY!!!! We also celebrated my Zoee girl's 8th birthday!! I can.not.believe. that she is 8! Wow. Time flies! She will always be my baby though, I don't care how old or sassy she gets:)) Grayden has been busy too. T-ball is in full swing and he is loving it! On game days, he puts on his uniform HOURS before the game starts! Michael is helping coach and loving it just as much as Grayden! He just has a few days left until he graduates from preschool... my baby boy is going to Kindergarten. I can't believe it. I have also been crazy busy at work as our semester is winding down. With all this crazy "busy ness" going on, it has been really easy to get overwhelmed at the fact that:

We leave for China in 8 days!!!!!

Yes, my friends, 8 days!! CRAZY!! We leave for China on May 12th. And while we are so excited, we are also anxious about leaving our precious babies for 12 long days, and just a little anxious about those 20+ hours of flying we will have to do. But, all of these things will take us to our baby girl, and that makes it all WORTH it. We will fly all day on the 12th and arrive in China very late at night on the 13th (China time.... they are 12 hours ahead of us). Then, just a few hours later on Monday morning, we will meet Tulah!!!! Wow, it is still hard to believe that we are this close and it is really happening. Wanna know something really neat ??? When we meet Tulah on May 14th, it will still be Sunday May 13th here at home, so technically we are meeting our girl on Mother's Day. What a sweet, precious, and priceless gift!!!

We received our detailed trip itinerary today and it looks like we will be kept very busy! We are excited to see some of China and Tulah's culture. I am especially excited to get to meet some of the people who cared for Tulah during the past year, as well as visit her finding place... the place where she was found, abandoned, at 2 days old. We will also get to visit several parks and a zoo, as well as go shopping:) I am definitely planning to blog while we are there (as long as internet service cooperates), so plan to follow along on this incredible journey, orchestrated beautifully by our incredible God!! To Him be all the glory!!

Have a blessed week! I will try to update once more before we leave!!!