Today we had an earlier start than we have the past
few days.We had to be in the lobby to
meet 5 other families in our group to go to the US Consulate for our visa
appointment and oath taking ceremony.It
was fun, but unfortunately our US Consulate will not allow you to bring
anything except paperwork into their building.Today did NOT make Primrose a citizen, it just cleared the way for us to
get her visa for entry to the US.This
is the final step in our adoption journey here in China, even though we have to
wait until Friday to depart the country.It has been an amazing time here China and I have come to enjoy the
culture here more and more.I will share
more about some of the unique cultural experiences that I have learned about
these wonderful people a little later on.
Primrose and Mommy are still doing great.She still would rather her daddy hold her
when given the option, but she will let mommy hold her.I think she finally gets that we are here to
stay and that she is stuck with us.Thank you again for all of your prayers and feedback during our
attachment struggles last week, it was a tremendous encouragement.
I am posting early today because a few of the
families are going to go to a Mideastern Restaurant with live Belly dancers for
supper, this should be fun.I will leave
you with two pictures: the first one is a menu choice from the restaurant
mentioned and the second is our first family picture with Primrose on day 2
with her.Also, here is a video of
Primrose and what she says when she sees Belle on mommy’s phone… Sissie (Belle’s
new nickname).More videos and pictures
to come.Stay Tuned!
The US Dollar cost of this item... around $12
If they would have let me hold her, she wouldn't have been crying.
may have to turn it up... hard to hear, but she will not do it if she sees me videoing her.
Today was a much needed lazy day for us.We did our typical morning routine and then
had nothing to do the rest of the day, well at least not until tonight.We lounged around the hotel room and then we
ventured out for lunch at another “western food” restaurant.It was a good day of resting before we hit
the river boat tour tonight.I will post
pictures from tonight on tomorrow’s blog.
Today has been a great day for mommy and
Primrose!They have spent much time
playing, bathing, and they even went to the playground while I was in a
meeting.April has picked Primrose up
numerous times today with no problems.What
a joy it is to witness.
Tomorrow is our visa
appointment and then we just wait for the visa to be issued and then home!Keep praying for us and Stay Tuned!
Waking up we knew today was going to be a fascinating
one.We were scheduled to go to
Chimelong Safari Park.It was about a 45
minute bus ride with traffic, but once we got there it had the feeling of
Disney’s Animal Kingdom.Our first task
once inside was to participate in the Safari on Wheels exhibit.This was a really neat exhibit; it was setup
like you would expect a safari ride to be set up.We had a safari train that we all rode but
what was really cool about this one is that you could drive your personal car
through and see the animals.There were
so many animals that I will not bore you with all of the details, but it was
really fun.I only wish I could have
understood our guide to hear what she was saying about the animals.
Our Holt group, minus 1 family who opted not to go today.
Our Safari Trains
Get up close with the animals in your own car.
The rest of the park setup is called a Safari on
Foot.They have everything like a
typical zoo except it is set up as if the animals are still in the wild.One area had chimpanzees out in the open that
would come down and play with a safari employee and you could actually touch
it.They also had an animal kindergarten
where you could feed a baby tiger.One
really neat detail about the Chimelong Safari Park is that it houses 10 pandas
and I cannot even remember how many white tigers but it was a bunch.They even had a tiger show with the white
tigers.It was not a Siegfried & Roy
type show; it was more of the tigers at a circus type of show.It was pretty good.
Feeding a baby tiger.
Giraffe feeding was also an option, but we can do this at Memphis Zoo so we just watched.
The best part of the day was getting to spend
quality time with the other Holt families that are here.We continue to develop great relationships
with each family as we journey together through the ups and downs of adjustment
with our new family members.
Today we also witnessed a HUGE milestone with April
and Primrose.Prim was stretched out
across our laps while taking a nap on the bus on the way back to the hotel.She woke up and I set her up but somehow her
positioning placed her in April’s lap.She
didn’t cry and I left her there.She sat
in mommy’s lap the rest of the way to the hotel, about 10 minutes total
time.As the bus stopped I told April to
stand up with her and see what happens.Nothing….silence….contentment….AMEN!Even when I got off the bus and walked up to them she was ok in mommy’s
arms.She stayed there until we crossed
the street to go eat supper.It was
AWESOME to see that.I am not sure how
long it will last, but it is still progress.Thanks again for your prayers in that area.
Tomorrow is a down
day for us as about half of the Holt families will be going to the US Consulate
for their oath taking ceremony.We do
not do that until Wednesday.So my plan
for tomorrow is to post mostly pictures and videos of our time here.Stay Tuned!
This morning started out with a Skype with Belle,
and it was pitiful.She is really
missing mommy and daddy.She told us
that she packed her clothes and she is going to get on an airplane and fly to
China all by herself.We cannot wait
until we get back Saturday so that we can love on that girl.She has been such a big girl this past week
and hopefully she can continue that way this week.Pray for her.She was heartbroken when we told her we wouldn’t be home until Saturday,
she thought we were coming home Wednesday.Apparently she got real upset when we hung up.
After that sad episode, we decided to take a cab to
Shamian Island to attend the bilingual church service at Shamian Christian
Church.It was really neat and the members
were very inviting and cordial to us.The worship music was really good and it was very inspiring to be in a
room full of Chinese people and singing How
Great is Our God with them.There were
also some songs in Mandarin and they were upbeat and celebratory.The people of this church really got into it
and were very open about their worship.Needless to say we really enjoyed it, well at least what we got to
experience.Primrose got restless really
quick and we made an early departure.Did I mention that there was standing room only in the church?It was amazing and inspiring as to how many people
were in there, or standing outside listening and trying to get in to find a
seat.
After the church service we visited a few shops
again to get a few more items.April is
becoming a pro at price negotiation.It
was funny to watch how much she has grown as far as that is concerned.
The rest of the day was uneventful.We are resting up for our big day tomorrow as
we are going to the Safari tour.It
promises to be an incredible experience.They have 10 pandas at the safari and many other animals in a simulated
wild environment.It should be a lot of
fun.
April and Primrose continue to make great
progress.Today I only changed one
diaper because Prim let mommy do it.She
played with mommy a lot today.She still
is not quite ready for mommy to hold her, but we are super close to that
moment.Tonight after supper was really
funny, Prim was more wound-up than she has ever been.She was running around in the living area of
our room just a babbling about something.She would run to April talking to her, and then come running to me at
the desk telling me the same thing.It
was too cute.
Your continued
prayers for my family are much appreciated.We are getting excited that we are near our journey’s end.Just a visa ceremony left for us and then we
are heading home.Sweet Tea and BBQ
Nachos are calling my name.
When we went to breakfast this morning, we noticed
that the other Holt families from our travel group had made it in to
Guangzhou.We had a chance to meet a few
of them and share stories.It is amazing
how you connect with strangers when you share a common interest.After breakfast came the dreaded Medical
Exams.On the bus ride to the clinic
Catherine gave us the rundown of what to expect.She told us what we had to accomplish and how
to do it quickly and efficiently, but she also told us that there could be
around 200 or so people there for the same reason.When we arrived at the medical clinic, we
were quickly escorted around the waiting room for normal patients and taken to
the adoption checkup section.We had 4
stations we had to maneuver through: visa photo, height & weight, ENT, and
medical exam.To say the scene was chaotic
would be an understatement.There were
so many adoptive families there for the same purpose from Bethany and Great
Wall adoption agencies as well as our Holt group.Primrose did not like any of the stations at
all.Even when Daddy could hold her, she
was not happy with the doctors and nurses.But, we made it through each section without a complication and should
be good to go.Here is the wonderful
visa picture they took of Primrose today, I asked them if I could just hold her
so she wouldn’t get upset but they didn’t listen to me.
After the medical exams and enduring the traffic
back to the hotel, we ate at our favorite little British themed coffee
house.The food is really good and reasonably
priced so we will be back a couple more times before we depart Guangzhou.
This is NOT rush hour traffic, this is normal.
Today was also visa paperwork check day.This is where the story gets
interesting.
After lunch we got back to
the room and it was time to lay Primrose down for a nap.She was not a happy baby about this.For 45 minutes she screamed and cried
fighting that nap.I told April to go
ahead and go do the paperwork; I should note here that she has not done any of
the paperwork thus far because I took care of all of it.She said, “No, either Prim will go to sleep
or let me get her out of the crib.”So I
told her to text me if she needed me to come back to the room.The paperwork was tedious, but I am used to
it.If you have not done an adoption I
just want to let you know the paperwork is overwhelming and detailed.
About an hour into the paperwork meeting, I texted
April for a status update. She informed me
the Prim took a little nap, and when she woke up she allowed mommy to get her
out of the crib.She said that they were
sitting in the floor playing and laughing.Can I get an AMEN!What an answer
to prayer!!Daddy came back to the room
excited to see mommy and Primrose having a good bonding time.
Tonight we decided to be real adventurous with our
new friends Mary Beth (mom), Karen (aunt), Lilly (14 year old Vietnamese girl
adopted at 17 months), & Callie (13 year old new adoptee). We decided to go check our Tekila Mexican
Restaurant.We were going to take 2
cabs, but Raymond said it would be easy to take the Metro (subway).So we decided to do the Metro.They say that between 5 and 7 it is the
busiest time on the Metro, we left the hotel around 6:15.It was crowded!I have only seen as many people moving in so
many different directions at Disneyworld.It was crazy.But, it was definitely
a cultural experience that was worth doing.
We took the Metro to our destination, and then had to walk a few blocks
past some street vendors to get to Tekila.Once in the restaurant it was interesting, I only saw white Americans at
first.There was a big group of adoptive
families eating there as well.It
figures that I go to China to eat Mexican food and only see Americans in there.The food was authentic Mexican, a Mexican
actually owned the place and he was really nice.The food was really good, but the highlight
of it was the black salsa.He said that
it is fresh salsa that he makes from burning the tomatoes a little.It was so good!
Random shots of downtown Guangzhou at night.
We got back in our room, after another fun run on
the Metro, and Primrose was wound up.She played with her mommy and me for quite a while. She even let mommy change her diaper and put
her PJs on.It has been a great day for
those two.Primrose still is apprehensive
about mommy holding her while daddy is around, but that seems to be slowly
ending.
Primrose is just a little bit ticklish
This was a game she created, banging her head on the
cabinet and then saying, "Ooh." She makes the funniest
faces at us too.
I made a YouTube channel so that I could prevent the issues some of you had when trying to watch the video I posted the other day. I hope this works better for you all. More videos to come. Tomorrow should be
really neat; we are going to a bilingual Christian church service.There are actually a few of the Holt families
who are going so it should be another good cultural experience, not a bad one
like the squatty potties.Stay Tuned!
