I would like to take a break from the story of our trip to say a few things.
I think the first and foremost thing that I have to say is that I am eternally grateful to China and all of those involved in the CCAA who had a hand in me getting my son. We are incredibly lucky to have him.
The second thing I want to say is this, I will NOT be giving you all the rose colored glasses version of things. It was a hard trip in many ways and I need to be honest about that. I need to be honest for myself, for my children and for any of you out there who are planning on making this Journey.
The third thing I want to say is this, no matter how wonderful it is to be in the country of your children's birth, it is very far away from home and it is difficult. It can be wondrous and amazing and magical and still, at the end of each evening when you are using bottled water to brush your teeth, you realize that the average person will have no way to ever relate to what you are experiencing.
If you were to do this trip and NOT get a child it would still be hard. But we do this thing and we are there, half way around the world where nothing has comfort and then you get a new child to Parent. I mean from the second they hand that baby to you, it's all over but the shoutin' - as my Mother would say. Like say, you have just known this child for about 35 minutes and he just barely deemed to eat a snack out of your hand, the Orphanage folks are gone and they just called to board the bus and you have the horrific realization that in about 45 seconds you will be changing the first messy diaper that you have seen in years.
Things like that.
So yes. It was wonderful and I loved it but I spent a portion of each day wondering how I was going to make it until we got home.
I do not remember the trip for Ev being like this and I can say that Nanchang was WAY more difficult to be in that Zhengzhou was. I can't quite put my finger on why it was so hard and tiring. I will even admit that Liam is a much easier child to deal with than Ev was, so most things on his front were, dare I say? Easier than his sister. Easier than expected.
Ok on with it then.
Monday, August 9, 2010
The Trip- Part 1
Beijing
Pictures From Beijing
Melissa and Brevin came up the night before we left. They spent the night and ensured that Les and I did not kill each other in the last, frantic moments of packing. ( And let me just say here that the Fe-breeze room refresher and the Downy De-wrinkler were two of the best items I packed- so there!)
We all woke early and headed off. Breakfast at Bob Evans was a great idea and we got on the plane with our tummies full of pancakes and sausage gravy- not a bad start to the trip.
What can I say about the air travel? It is long and tiring and boring. Eventually we made it to Beijing though and I was bowled over by the heat. As a matter of fact, I never did adjust to it. It continued to be hellishly hot and humid for our entire trip but the weather in Beijing was "special" as our guide, George told us many, many times.
We stayed in the Holiday Inn, right down town. It was a nice hotel with a good breakfast buffet and it was near a good pizza joint. This is also where we went out to have authentic Chinese Dumplings for dinner one night. This was probably the single most stressful meal there. The food was good but we had about 10 of the workers standing and watching us while we ate- for the entire meal. They also wanted to touch Ev alot and had many, many , questions that they wanted answered. All in all they were friendly and encouraging, it's just hard to eat while being scrutinized. The dumplings were delicious though.
Beijing is big and busy and hot. When you enter Hong Kong, you could be in any city in the world, when you enter Beijing, you KNOW you are in China. There is alot of smog and alot of street pollution and it is wonderfully Chinese in every nook and cranny. Also? It was hot, did I mention that?
CCAI has some pretty serious touring set up here, you really have no break at all. It starts at 8:30 am and you go and go until 6 or so at night. This is why Ev was asleep on Les at the end of every day.
Day 1 we went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City with a lunch and then off to the Hutong neighborhood. I wish that I could tell you that I fully enjoyed these stops but the heat was so oppressive that I just survived it all. It was gorgeous and awesome and magnificent but I was near passing out the entire time. I know! I should stop belly aching about the heat already- but it WAS bad. Everyone said so. We were ALL miserable and sweating like pigs and just dying of thirst. Even our native guide-so there.
Day 2 was The Great Wall. I could not believe this place it was fabulous and it was so amazing to be there. Les made it nearly to the top but I have to say, Ev and I did not. We sat and enjoyed the view, we found a breezy spot and had a snack or two.
The entire time I had this whole pulse of anxiety going on in my head. I wanted Liam and I wanted to be done with the endless sightseeing and being drug all over. I think that I will always feel this way. It was nice to be distracted, on one hand though.
On Day 3 we woke early to get to the airport and head into Henan Province and into Zhengzhou City where we would meet our son. Unfortunately we would have to be there almost an entire day before we could get him!
Pictures From Beijing
Melissa and Brevin came up the night before we left. They spent the night and ensured that Les and I did not kill each other in the last, frantic moments of packing. ( And let me just say here that the Fe-breeze room refresher and the Downy De-wrinkler were two of the best items I packed- so there!)
We all woke early and headed off. Breakfast at Bob Evans was a great idea and we got on the plane with our tummies full of pancakes and sausage gravy- not a bad start to the trip.
What can I say about the air travel? It is long and tiring and boring. Eventually we made it to Beijing though and I was bowled over by the heat. As a matter of fact, I never did adjust to it. It continued to be hellishly hot and humid for our entire trip but the weather in Beijing was "special" as our guide, George told us many, many times.
We stayed in the Holiday Inn, right down town. It was a nice hotel with a good breakfast buffet and it was near a good pizza joint. This is also where we went out to have authentic Chinese Dumplings for dinner one night. This was probably the single most stressful meal there. The food was good but we had about 10 of the workers standing and watching us while we ate- for the entire meal. They also wanted to touch Ev alot and had many, many , questions that they wanted answered. All in all they were friendly and encouraging, it's just hard to eat while being scrutinized. The dumplings were delicious though.
Beijing is big and busy and hot. When you enter Hong Kong, you could be in any city in the world, when you enter Beijing, you KNOW you are in China. There is alot of smog and alot of street pollution and it is wonderfully Chinese in every nook and cranny. Also? It was hot, did I mention that?
CCAI has some pretty serious touring set up here, you really have no break at all. It starts at 8:30 am and you go and go until 6 or so at night. This is why Ev was asleep on Les at the end of every day.
Day 1 we went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City with a lunch and then off to the Hutong neighborhood. I wish that I could tell you that I fully enjoyed these stops but the heat was so oppressive that I just survived it all. It was gorgeous and awesome and magnificent but I was near passing out the entire time. I know! I should stop belly aching about the heat already- but it WAS bad. Everyone said so. We were ALL miserable and sweating like pigs and just dying of thirst. Even our native guide-so there.
Day 2 was The Great Wall. I could not believe this place it was fabulous and it was so amazing to be there. Les made it nearly to the top but I have to say, Ev and I did not. We sat and enjoyed the view, we found a breezy spot and had a snack or two.
The entire time I had this whole pulse of anxiety going on in my head. I wanted Liam and I wanted to be done with the endless sightseeing and being drug all over. I think that I will always feel this way. It was nice to be distracted, on one hand though.
On Day 3 we woke early to get to the airport and head into Henan Province and into Zhengzhou City where we would meet our son. Unfortunately we would have to be there almost an entire day before we could get him!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Home
And so we are home.
17 days have passed.
And home feels oh so nice.
The heat and humidity of China nearly did me in.
The love I have for this chubby faced boy has knocked me over.
I am reeling right now.
Jet lag.
Exhaustion.
New child.
Old child with new behaviors.
Cat jealous of new kid and old kid, new kid jealous of cat and big sister, big sister jealous of cat and brother.
It's all a jumbled, wonderful, sleepless mess.
I can say this: I am glad to have this little boy in my life and even now, with the bone weary mess that I am, with the details of that hard, long trip still fresh in my mind- I would absolutely do it all over again just to have him.
I will be working on some details of the trip and putting them together with pictures- later. I will have to eat and sleep and shower and sleep some more but it will all come out. For now- here a few pictures of my new life, my new child and that constant on my life that is known as Evelyn.
17 days have passed.
And home feels oh so nice.
The heat and humidity of China nearly did me in.
The love I have for this chubby faced boy has knocked me over.
I am reeling right now.
Jet lag.
Exhaustion.
New child.
Old child with new behaviors.
Cat jealous of new kid and old kid, new kid jealous of cat and big sister, big sister jealous of cat and brother.
It's all a jumbled, wonderful, sleepless mess.
I can say this: I am glad to have this little boy in my life and even now, with the bone weary mess that I am, with the details of that hard, long trip still fresh in my mind- I would absolutely do it all over again just to have him.
I will be working on some details of the trip and putting them together with pictures- later. I will have to eat and sleep and shower and sleep some more but it will all come out. For now- here a few pictures of my new life, my new child and that constant on my life that is known as Evelyn.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Todays the Day!
FINALLY!! They will be getting home tonight!! So excited! We'll be meeting them at the airport @ 7:30p. Lots to do today to get ready for them and we're all sooo anxious!!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Sick Sick Sick
We were able to check in on the Dillons last night, and I'm sad to report that they are all sick. Yes, all 4 of them. First of all, Les and Evelyn almost never get sick..but if you're part of this family... ur gonna sick away from home.
Les has an ear infection/ache/clog thing going on, which we thought was cleared up before they left. Apparently not.
Michal has a bad cold or sinus issue going on.. she sounds awful. Feels worse.
Evelyn has pink eye. Not just in 1eye.. yep.. in both eyes people!
Liam has a cold, which doesn't seem to be getting better since our last call. And along with his cold, he's been getting updated on his shots so they can come home. Poor Cheeks for Weeks
So.. they're all a little stressed, not feeling well, and I'm sure they are ready to get home and get back into the daily routine.. or start/learn a new routine with Liam.
On a happier note.. well, it makes me giggle at least... Liam is ALL BOY! He leaves a trail of mess and toys, and half chewed up "stuff" behind him wherever he goes! hahaha I think he's gotten into more stuff in 1 week than ever expected! He might actually make Brevin look like a calm kid! I'm gonna love love love this new nephew business! We don't get to talk very long on our phone calls.. but I cannot wait to see how my wonderfully neat, everything in its place, no mess maker niece, deals with her little brother! Hahaha
I'm missing those people tho! And its not that I see them on a daily basis or anything, but we talk all the time! And maybe b/c I know I can get to them in less than 2 hours if needed. I'm missing them because I know my best friend is thousands of miles away, I'm missing telling my sister silly, little, non-important stuff about my daily, boring life. I miss talking to Ev about 'whatever' or 'how silly Brevin is being'. And I'm probably being really selfish right now but I want my family home!
They'll be home in less than 4 days!
Les has an ear infection/ache/clog thing going on, which we thought was cleared up before they left. Apparently not.
Michal has a bad cold or sinus issue going on.. she sounds awful. Feels worse.
Evelyn has pink eye. Not just in 1eye.. yep.. in both eyes people!
Liam has a cold, which doesn't seem to be getting better since our last call. And along with his cold, he's been getting updated on his shots so they can come home. Poor Cheeks for Weeks
So.. they're all a little stressed, not feeling well, and I'm sure they are ready to get home and get back into the daily routine.. or start/learn a new routine with Liam.
On a happier note.. well, it makes me giggle at least... Liam is ALL BOY! He leaves a trail of mess and toys, and half chewed up "stuff" behind him wherever he goes! hahaha I think he's gotten into more stuff in 1 week than ever expected! He might actually make Brevin look like a calm kid! I'm gonna love love love this new nephew business! We don't get to talk very long on our phone calls.. but I cannot wait to see how my wonderfully neat, everything in its place, no mess maker niece, deals with her little brother! Hahaha
I'm missing those people tho! And its not that I see them on a daily basis or anything, but we talk all the time! And maybe b/c I know I can get to them in less than 2 hours if needed. I'm missing them because I know my best friend is thousands of miles away, I'm missing telling my sister silly, little, non-important stuff about my daily, boring life. I miss talking to Ev about 'whatever' or 'how silly Brevin is being'. And I'm probably being really selfish right now but I want my family home!
They'll be home in less than 4 days!
Friday, July 30, 2010
More news from China
The latest from China... Evelyn has her 1st loose tooth! She seems to be very proud! She also informed us that shes sick of being in the hotel room and shes not looking forward to 7 more days in them.
Liam is doing very good! They say he is a trip! He's a climber, stubborn, lovable, and likes things his own way. He already runs to his mama for loves and cuddles!! We could hear him in the background just gibbering away!
Today is travel day. They have departed for Guangzhou and will be there until Aug. 5. I believe this is where they will finish up all the American paperwork.
Meanwhile... here in Ohio.. Brevin has been getting welcome home packages ready for the kids, mom & I are planning a menu so they can have some good home cooked food ready for them when they get home. And my friend is working on the welcome home signs, which look awesome btw! Love her for that! Thanks Carolyn!
Liam is doing very good! They say he is a trip! He's a climber, stubborn, lovable, and likes things his own way. He already runs to his mama for loves and cuddles!! We could hear him in the background just gibbering away!
Today is travel day. They have departed for Guangzhou and will be there until Aug. 5. I believe this is where they will finish up all the American paperwork.
Meanwhile... here in Ohio.. Brevin has been getting welcome home packages ready for the kids, mom & I are planning a menu so they can have some good home cooked food ready for them when they get home. And my friend is working on the welcome home signs, which look awesome btw! Love her for that! Thanks Carolyn!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Liam Day!
Ok so I'm a day behind but the good news is... they got Liam!! Evelyn called yesterday morning, 12:42 am our time, and said "Hello. We got Liam. I'm taller than him, he only comes up to my shoulders!" HA then she passed the phone over to Kel. I'll leave all the details for sis to fill u in on, but they said that he's precious, seems kinda quite, won't let his big sister out of his sight, and they are all doing great! Oh, and he's a chubby little guy! Cute! I can't wait to get my hands on him! This aunt of his is gonna kiss his face off! After I squeeze the stuffing outta Bean ofcourse. I miss them already..can't wait for them to get home.
Today is official paperwork day for them....ughh right? And the next 2 days are free days. We're really hoping they call and check in tonight, it's torture not hearing from them everyday.
Today is official paperwork day for them....ughh right? And the next 2 days are free days. We're really hoping they call and check in tonight, it's torture not hearing from them everyday.
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