Our Girl Emily

We finalized Emily's adoption this morning. The Civil Affairs office in this city does not make a big ceremony out of the finalization like Chongqing did. You answer a few questions sign one piece of paper and it is over. It did not go so smoothly for us this time. When Emily saw the worker from her orphanage she went into meltdown. So... here are the pictures from us signing the papers with Emily in her state of total meltdown. It was just too traumatic for her to see the lady from her orphanage.
 

We have decided it will be too much for her to go to the orphanage on Thursday. So one of us will go to the orphanage while the other stays at the hotel with Emily and Zach. Tomorrow morning we will try to take a picture with Emily, the adoption certificate and us when she is not crying. Other than this one incident all has been great and we are getting along famously.

Also some pictures from everyday life! At breakfast I offered Emily Chopsticks and she pushed them away and went for the fork. Seams she knows what to expect for her new life. Zach just goes and leans on the bed when he is ready for a nap and falls asleep standing up! Too funny.

Emily

Meet our daughter Emily! So blessed to have her in our arms after waiting sooooo long. Initial meeting went very  well,  no tears from anyone except me (Jim)! Once we got to our hotel room she cried for awhile and then settled down. We have had her most of the day now and are getting to know one and other. After dinner, and about 5 hours with us Emily is vibrant, happy and very interactive. She now goes to both of us very happily. She has plenty of personality. Emily walks with a very pronounced limp, and we won't know until her initial medical assessment if the limp is from the club foot, spina bifida or both. She and Zach are getting along great!

Reflections on Chongqing

The Chinese character on the license plate is the character for Chongqing (pronounced Chongching). The name means double happiness. If any of you are interested, I can tell you how the city got that name- interesting story going back to the Ching Dynasty. This city has been our host for the last week, and a wonderful host it has been. As I reflect on our time in Chongqing, I am draw to the happiness of the people and the kindness they have show us. We have very much enjoyed our time here.

We have been staying very near to the city center, but it is not at all like the innercities in America. I have not heard one police siren, and have only seen a couple of police officers all week. There are approximately 35 million people in this city and its surrounding area. I have felt very safe and Betty and I have walked about freely where ever we wanted to go. Everywhere we walked, the people smiled and treated us very well. I was taken by surprise by how many people speak English here. Communication was never difficult whether or not we were with our guide. Chongqing and its people have been incredible.

We stayed in the hotel Le Meridian. It is a 5 star hotel and without a doubt the nicest place I have ever stayed. We had a breakfast buffet included with our room cost which included a huge selection each morning of American and Chinese food. The staff was amazing and cared for anything we asked about.

Michael was our adoption guide here in Chongqing. He was the greatest. He had everything lined out for us from the moment he picked us up at the airport. He never tired of answering questions or running us anywhere we needed to go. He is a very special man and we are in his debt for everything related to our adoption of Zach. We are happy to be moving on as our hearts are anxious to be home with Zach and Emily. But... we are very grateful to all we met here. Truly, Chongqing is a city of double happiness.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Hefei and on Monday we will finally hold Emily in our arms.

Visit to Zach's Finding Place and Orphanage

Today we made a very emotional visit to the place that Zach was found and to his orphanage. experience it with us through pictures:

These first three pictures show the entrance to an "underpass" that allows pedestrians to cross a busy street by walking under it.

This is what the underpass looks like during the busy part of the day. Zach was left here very early in the morning when he was two days old.

 

The outside of the orphanage building. Cannot be more truly stated "where there is love there is hope". We found much love for the children inside by all the staff.

Our first picture of Zach was of him sitting on this slide.

Zach's crib.

Zach and his nanny

Harmonious 24 Hours

In China the first 24 hours of your adoption is called the "Harmonious 24 Hours" and it concludes with the finalization of your adoption! At 2 PM China Time Zone and  3 AM US Central Time Zone 15 April 2014, Zachary Chase Porter legally became our son in the eyes of the laws of China and of the United States of America. When our return flight to the United States touches down in San Francisco he will also be officially a citizen of the United States of America. This new little man of mine is ours to steward on behalf of our great God by whose hand this has been made possible.  It is HE who is Zach's true father and tonight we praise Him.

As we approached the building of the Adoption authorities, so many emotions race through me - but mostly the emotion of JOY. The kind of joy that  makes it hard to breath, harder still to look through eyes that fight back tears, and yes harder still not to scream out our thanks to God who is the giver of every perfect gift.

On our arrival we were asked to pose for a picture, then a few moments later we went into another room,  we were asked a few question to promise we would care for, nurture and educate our son. We promised to do so (reminded me very much of a child dedication ceremony at church with different questions!). We signed our acceptance of Zach as our son, placed our finger print over the signature. They added one of Zach's fingerprints, An finally an official proclaimed to us that he was then our son. Just like that, and he is ours. We are so very blessed. We took many picture and returned to our hotel. It was a day that will be etched in my mind and on my heart- FOREVER.

Rejoice with us! Tomorrow we will visit his orphanage and the place where he was abandoned. This will be a hard thing to do.

Warming up!

After we went out for dinner last night and got back to the hotel, Zach warmed up to everyone a lot! We were able to tickle and play and were blessed with smiles and laughter. Here are a couple of pictures after his bath! He is an AMAZING sleeper. We put him to bed at 8 and he tried to climb out of the crib for about 20 minutes, then when he realized escape was not going to happen he laid down, covered himself with his blanket and woke up 11 hours later! His nursery workers taught him to say moma and papa - this morning when we woke up he gave as his first use of these words- melts your heart!

Had local food last night. Chongqing is known throughout China for its spicy food. I (Jim) love spicy food..... the reputation is well deserved!  It cleared my sinuses to say the least. Hottest Chinese I have ever had, MMMMMM!

Zach's Gotcha Day

What an amazing day. We went with one other family to get our children. As expected Zach was scared and upset initially! He is settling in very well and doesn't want to let go of his mommy! Daddy- welllll he is still warming up to me! They were very sure to tell us that Zach is a VERY active little boy- looks like big brother Isaiah may get a run for his money.

 

 

 

 

Arrived Chongquin

Arrived safely in Chongqing.  12:02 AM here- need sleep and will post much more tomorrow after we meet Zach. Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement. Visited Great Wall earlier today.

Sights of Beijing

Arrive Beijing safely. Here are a few photos of our sightseeing today. Having connectivity problems that will limit how many photos we can post.

Tiananmen Square

 

 

Rickshaw tour

 

 

Entrance to the Forbidden City

On Our Way

Only three more days until we travel. Soon we will hold Emily and Zach in our arms. We have waited soooooooo long! We will be meeting Zach first and then a week later Emily. Next post will be from CHINA!

Final update

Last week we received our Final Update from China on both Emily and Zach!  FINAL UPDATE. I really like the sound of that! We are currently awaiting our Article 5 back form the US Consulate in China. This will come on 20 March. Once we have that we can set our actual travel date. We are getting VERY excited, but also realizing how much we have left to do before we leave. So grateful to our God that our time to travel is so near. 

Progress

We received our I 800 yesterday!  Praise God.  It is getting close to time to FINALLY go and bring Emily and Zach home.

Zachary

When we were sharing the news about God adding Emily to our lives, someone said "Only one? You never adopt just one at a time." As it turns out they were right! God has now added Zachary to our family. We will become his parents this spring when we travel to China to adopt both Emily and Zach. Rejoice with us!

China Update

Things continue to progress with our adoption of Emily. Thank you for your prayers. We have done everything we need to do prior to our dossier going to China. We are awaiting our I800 from CIS, but we have done everything we need to accomplish for CIS and are just waiting for the document to arrive. THEN, our dossier will go to China! We are very excite and can’t wait to travel. Time seems to be moving soooo slow. God has been gracious and continues to answer our prayers.

We now want to share a new prayer request.  We had our China home study written for two children and so we asked recently for approval from China to adopt two children. We received word this week that China has approved us for two children! We have a fairly narrow window of time now to be matched with a second child. Once this time window ends, we will not be able to adopt two children. There are so many prayer request associated with this new approval. Please pray for:

God’s wisdom to know if we should proceed with the request for the second child.

God’s provisioning for the additional costs.
That God will show us the specific child he intends for us.
That we could be matched with a child in the same orphanage or town where Emily is now.

China Bound

God is good all the time. All the time God is good. I have shared with a very few that since returning home with Angie and Jose, I have had an overwhelming burden on my heart that God intended another daughter for Betty and I. I have been praying and seeking His wisdom and direction. We recently found out that China would be open to our family adopting a special needs child , and we immediately felt God moving us (OK actually it felt more like a big shove) toward the country of China. We began to work with an agency with a strong China program. We began to look at pictures of waiting children with special needs. Adopting a special needs child is so consistent with the call we have had for several years to adopt the children who are not "wanted". In the heart of God and in our hearts, they are sooooo very wanted and loved. Today we received approval from the Government of china to adopt Emily!!! We are not allowed to post her location or her Chinese name, but we can share her picture. She is absolutely BEAUTIFUL and we feel so blessed to have the privilege to steward her for our Heavenly Father. She was abandoned as an infant and has been in orphanages since. She is now 4 years old and will be 5 by the time we get to travel sometime this coming spring.