JnJ Adoption Adventure: Happy Thanksgiving!

Day 9 – Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! Have we really been here 9 days? Wow. Please pray for the Daniels' family. They are leaving today and their little girl (the blue baby I've been talking about) is staying here in China. She is in desperate need of surgery and is not well enough to travel. Their cardiologist from home viewed her files- fortunately they had up to date readings on her- and said he gave her a 50/50 chance of surviving a flight (even just to Guangzhou, not the long one home) – and that was if she was lucky. They were extremely fortunate that Josh and Lilly just happened to be here at this time (believe in divine providence anyone? I do.)—and they have worked very hard to try to get things straightened out. Their little girl will be taking the train to Beijing, and will be trying to get her weight up to 7k so she can have surgery (she currently weighs 6). The family will be paying half of the surgery and the other half will be covered by a charity called Philip Hayden. Since it will not cost the orphanage, they are hoping there will not be any issues with this. They have 90 days for her to have surgery and they could still come back to take her home with them. It is also possible to apply for a Travel Approval extension. I am sure this was the best decision for the baby, but it was probably the hardest decision the Daniels have had to make. They could definitely use some prayers for a happy ending to all of their trials. While they were packing to leave, the rest of us went to the Henan museum. The city we are in- Zhengzhou- used to be called Zhongzhou (zhong is middle in Chinese), and has been the capital of China 4 different times in the past. It is on the Yellow River, which has made it an important distribution area. The museum was very interesting, and covered thousands of years of history. Many of the items in there were from BC. Some of the time, it seemed like we (the white people) were the main attraction, and many of us were asked to be in pictures with random Chinese people. We are the 1^st large group to adopt from here, so it is something of a novelty to see foreigners together around here. Hopefully, a lot of my pictures turned out well, I think Ying may like to see them when she is older. Ying only wanted Daddy to carry her around the museum- hee hee- she's a Daddy's girl already!

Ying is quite a character. We've had several tantrums today (this afternoon). She does not like to be told 'no' on something she wants. She is very cute and special needs, so I am sure she has not heard 'no' often in her short life. We don't like how little she talks, but we are trying to take it easy on her. She threw a fit because I wouldn't let her use the hotel phone and she cried for prolly 30 mins. Oh well, heh. That doesn't work so well with mommy & daddy. She'll learn, we aren't like her Chinese 'ai yi's and she can't do whatever she wants. I think it is very normal for her to test boundaries, and also for her to feel the grief once she does start crying. I actually like that she is spirited, I think it is a good sign. I feel bad because I think it is just plain adorable when she cries, and I want to just smile at her and watch- she'll probably get very mad at me for that when she is older and understands more. For Ying's 1^st Thanksgiving- We had Thanksgiving turkey dinner at the restaurant in the hotel – it wasn't that bad. It was very different though. Everyone loves happy little Ying, the Chinese women get quite a kick out of her showing people her different body parts. We do have a lot to be thankful for this year! Daddy doesn't like it when his little girl cries though, she is going to have a rough adjustment I think for a short while. I will be 'thankful' to head out for Guangzhou tomorrow—I literally have over a dozen mosquito bites on me. And I'm told the whiteys aren't such a novelty there where we are going, and there is more shopping and food. Almost everyone has been quite friendly here though, so I'm not complaining.