He's Here!

We received Matthew from the civil affairs office this afternoon after a very long wait, he and the other children from luoyang arrived about 2 hours later then the other children. He was all smiles when he arrived after his very long car journey, gripping a snack. He really seems to like us and will hold up his arms for us to pick him up. He does have a bad cold and quite a cough which we are keeping an eye on. Matthew is much smaller than we thought, none of his shoes fit that we brought. He has very dry skin and puts his hands behind his head just like his older brother. He is a fantastic eater and loves snacks. He had a fried egg and congee for lunch. He has been sad when lying down and cries when we change him. Right now he is watching a little Pleasant Goat with Jeff. Huihui (which we are calling him now) plays with cars and especially the stacking cups, always moving his hands. Hope to post more later, another full day of running around. Oh, and our bus hit a car on our way back to the hotel. Sorry for the crazy post! Prayers for bonding and that his cough gets better would be much appreciated.

Gotcha!

We have him and God is so good! All smiles and a great eater!

Getting ready to leave

Leaving in 30 minutes to meet Matthew for the first time, he is in a car coming to our city as I write. He spent his last night as an orphan last night. I just made my first bottle to take with us. We received an update yesterday and it says he can use the potty a little bit, but still wears diapers. He is afraid of strangers, but can be calmed down with a treat. He also enjoys riding on a dog toy. He still takes formula and drinks a mixture of chrysanthemum water. Taking a bottle with the chrysanthemum water but there are no directions on how to make it. It kind of reminds me of Tang??

So excited and nervous!! I wanted to share my Bible reading for today. "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it. And when he finds it he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says rejoice with me, I have found my lost sheep."

God has been so faithful to us, we anxiously await sharing our Matthew with you.

Beijing day 3

On the move!!! Day three had us starting at the Jade factory and then off to the Great Wall. The Great Wall has been our favorite. We had two routes to pick, we chose the steeper route because it was a shorter walk to the first signal tower. Talk about steep! Some steps seemed few inches high and other were 18 inches high. Definitely got our exercise in! We had lunch at the cloisonné factory - rice, duck, shrimp (with their eyes still attached), Chinese whiskey, celery, French fries, chicken and much much more.

We then headed to tour the city to see the Olympics birds nest and the cube. All in all a very cold day since we were outside most of the day. Saw a Chinese acrobat show around dinner time, too. To say the least we have been exhausted. We went to bed at 8:30 and enjoyed some pretzels for our dinner.

There have been such extremes for temperature, we have either been freezing or sweating. One day the bus driver had the heat at 85 degrees and yesterday it was so cold that ice formed on the inside of the windows. The thermostat never worked in the hotel room, but thankfully I figured out if I jiggled the window latch enough, I could get it open. ( sshhhh don't tell). We slept with the window open the other night ago, but it it pretty much smelled like a bus stop/foundry in the morning. Pollution is pretty bad.

Speaking of which, We are now waiting at the airport in Beijing and the flight is delayed - maybe fog but more likely its smog. We should have Matthew in the morning!!! Can't believe it!!! I have been experiencing a lot of discomfort in my tooth that was repaired the day before I left. think I may be dealing with an infection in the gum from my root canal. I started the antibiotics I brought this morning to hope I can get past this. I would appreciate any prayers for the tooth and for Matthew as his world is set be flipped upside down.

Day 2 Beijing

We have had FULL day! Started out with breakfast at the hotel, it had a a lot of Chinese and American breakfast items. I can recommend the kiwi flavored yogurt. We left at nine am and took a bus with the other 10 families to a traditional Chinese village called a Hutong (I think???). We traveled through the Hutong on a bike pedaled rickshaw. The driver that "chose" us had Mickey Mouse on the seat. He was a little bit of a show off and liked to drive close to people swerving just to miss them or rubbing his tires against the other rickshaws. We visited the home of a Mrs Wu and she invited our group of 30 into her one room home to have tea and snacks. Don't worry, Mrs Wu was not some random stranger and she regularly provides these tours to adoptive family tour groups. She let me have her picture with her. She is a retired nurse from manchurian descent.

We had a family style dinner with fish, duck, chicken, green beans, Chinese beer, coke products and lots of unidentifiable foods. Everything was really tasty, thankfully the guides order for us. The restaurant even had a western style toilet - a major plus!! We headed off for Tianamon Square and the Forbidden city. My camera started to lose all power and most of those pics are stuck on Jeff's iPhone. Still trying to figure out how to retrieve them. It was very cold out. Several families in our group have brought their children and the kids were quite a hit with the young local teenage girls. They would race over to have their pictures quickly snapped with the kids, especially the blond little boy and the set of girl twins.

We headed out to Pizza Hut - don't judge, sometimes you just need a little comfort food! We went with 5 other families and thankfully one of the moms spoke mandarin!! One of the new pizzas has a ring of hot dogs on it with fried shrimp in the middle. We stuck with the pepperoni. Out of all the meals we have eaten, this is the only one that has left our stomachs a little jumbly. Please pray it passes quickly!

The other families here have been a God send, so nice to have their support and they really are a lot of fun! Two families have adopted here before and One of them is here for their fourth Chinese adoption, so good to rely on their experience.

FYI those weren't gas masks in our room, but masks to escape a fire... Good to know. Also we were able to finally open the window a little bit last night. It finally dropped the room down to a temp we could use a blanket but the pollution was a little heavier

We made it here!!

Arrived in Beijing yesterday afternoon. Flight was llooonnnnggggg, but better than expected. They certainly keep you well fed as you are tightly packed in there. I had noodles and dumpling for breakfast on the plane - not too bad.

So far what we what we have seen of Beijing is very westernized. Our room is very nice and even includes our own gas masks?? We have noticed the Chinese must be very warm people, we are sweating in tshirts while our seatmate had on his jacket and a blanket. Our hotel room and bus have also been quite sweltering.

Having difficulty loading pictures off of iPhone, but will try again later.

MORE NEW PICTURES!!

Another Ohio adoptive mom who was visiting Matthew's orphanage, snapped a bunch of photos of our guy today. I have been going back and forth if I should bring his winter coat or not, I think that was a definite yes to bring it. We are all pretty big disney fans in our family, so it was extra special that he is wearing a Mickey Mouse coat of all things. So glad to see his smile!

We are coming Matthew! Not long now!!!