First two days together

Jet lag has made it so tough to post.  By the time we are sitting still, we are also feeling drugged.  Doing my best now to capture the past two days before I succumb to the jet lag giant.

Can I just say what a blessing this little girl is?  She has captured our hearts.  It is no wonder that everyone at the orphanage was in love with her.  She has such a spirit!  She is a Pendergrast through and through.  We are finding ourselves in constant awe of the fact that God could link us with a child halfway around the globe whose spirit is so enmeshed with ours.  God is so good!

After Gotcha yesterday, we went to Feng Lin's finding place because it was so close to the orphanage.  Heat-breaking, but so grateful to have photos for Feng Lin of the place where her birth mother once stepped.  Then we had an amazing lunch at a very small, local restaurant.  We discovered that Feng Lin loves food, but is also quite discriminate.  She would spout off a long monologue about which food she wanted and which she didn't.  Thank God for Susan there translating!
Next, we had to get our picture taken for the Adoption Certificate.  The only place that could take the photo was booked so we had to have a Mentos moment and have our guide, Susan, take the picture in front of a red train (had to be red background.)
We spent the rest of the day in our room getting to know Feng Lin.  Let me tell you, this girl is smart, sweet, sassy, and absolutely spirited!  We were told at the orphanage that she was a chatterbox and that is no joke!  She and Quinn are gonna have to fight for talking time!  She could have cared less that we had no clue what she was saying most of the time.  She would just say it louder and louder and louder as if that would help our comprehension.  She also knew a lot of English words-apple, banana, mommy, daddy, some colors, numbers, etc.  She wanted to know where we both were at all times.  If baba went to the bathroom, she'd walk around saying "baba, baba!"  She was not shy at all about telling us when she needed to use the bathroom.  At one point she was trying to get on the seat herself and almost fell in!  I caught her and she started cracking up laughing!  No fear.  Whenever she almost falls or spills or some other catastrophe is averted, she cracks up laughing.  And her laugh is a hilarious belly laugh like her sister's.   
Feng Lin is absolutely in love with several things.  1. Arts and crafts.  She has already gone through all the stickers and notebooks I brought so we went shopping for more today.  2. Electronics.  We brought a Nabi for her and she LOVES it, especially the puzzle apps.  This girl had got some serious visual spatial skills. 3. Bling. Bling. And More Bling!  We brought pop beads.  She has made a million necklaces and bracelets with them.  Yesterday we all had to have them.  When Chris would sneakily take his off, she would bring it to him again.  She also saw the hair clips I had packed and put them all in at once:)  Six hairbows all over her head!  She is a hot mess! 4. TALKING.  Susan has been in awe of ho much and how well Feng Lin talks.  She will be having a conversation with her and laugh and Chris and I are just watching them thinking "What are they talking about?!"  Then Susan will say, "She is so smart.  She is so funny!"
Today we had our adoption registration completed.  Feng Lin is officially our daughter!  Woo hoo!  The assistant director of the orphanage was there and was telling us that other than a twelve year old (the one in yesterday's photo) Feng Lin was the boss.  I can totally see that.  She knows what she wants and doesn't want and is not afraid to say it. 
Afterward, we went shopping for some shoes and crafts and groceries.  Have I mentioned that this girl is a feisty miss priss and that the shoe we bought were two sizes too large?  She immediately went to the shoes she wanted.  No ifs ands or buts.  Ater we purchased said pink boots with pom-poms hanging from them, we went to the arts department.  Stamps, notebooks, stickers.  She was SO excited!  When they tried to hand the bag to Chris, she took it and proudly marched around the rest of the store with it (with the pink boots on-they couldn't go in the box!)  What struck me the most was that everywhere we went she waould say "There are a lot of ___ here," to Susan.  A lot of shoes, a lot of watches, a lot of coats.  She had probably never been to a shopping mall.  I had the same thought at the grocery store.  She was amazed by all the food.  Despite this beautiful child's confident nature, she has had so few life experiences.  We are so so blessed to be able to give her those experiences.
Two questions that may be on our families' minds...hows her back?  Does she like baths?
Back is not so good, though it doesn't slow her down.  Without her brace on, she has a significant curvature to the right.  She will need surgery vey soon after we get home.  She has a scar the length of her back and stretch marks on the right side where her skin stretched after her first surgery when she was finally upright.  The brace is cumbersome for her, but she manages to bend, lift and go crazy with it on.
Second question...she loves water!  Thought not on her face.  She played in the bath tonight and washed herself as she had obviously been taught.  Can I just say again how amazing her care was?  Amazing!
I could write all night now that I've gotten started, but just one last thing I want to say before I crash.  Feng Lin has probably taught me more Mandarin than I have taught her English.  My Chinese for Adoptive Parents book has been my bible.  When I tell her something from the book, she corrects my pronunciation, then immediately complies with whatever my request is...brush teeth, naptime, time to eat, time to go, time to put on pajamas.  She is such a sweetie!  We are smitten.  Totally smitten!  Cannot wait to see our four kiddos together!  It is going to be a blast!
Love to all.

FOREVER FAMILY DAY!

FYI..started this post yesterday, but jet lag has made it tough to think coherently so just posting now:)

We have a new daughter!  While I would love to post a million pictures, our connection is so slow that I will just write for now and post more pictures soon.
We arrived very early because there wasn't much traffic, so we waited for almost an hour for the orphanage director to arrive.  We quickly learned during our wait that whatever the orphanage lacked in beauty, it made up for in spirit.  Every person we came in contact with was so warm and so in love with our daughter.  Even the accountant came in with tears to tell us that Feng Lin is such a good girl and so smart and to please be patient with her because she has never known what it is like to be in a family.  Our little girl has made a huge impact on a lot of lives.
When the director finally arrived, we followed her to her office on the second floor.  Just as we were entering her office, Feng Lin was being escorted down the long, hallway, hand-in-hand with one of her nannies.  Her nannie carried a grocery bag full of bananas, oranges, and sweets that she had purchased for Feng Lin.  She started to weep when saying goodbye to Feng Lin.  Then my tears started to flow.  I promised her that we would love and cherish her forever.  She left abruptly in tears.  Feng Lin just watched the entire scene, but without emotion. 
We quickly opened a bag of M&Ms and offered her one.  She took them from us easily. She was instructed to give me a hug and give baba a hand shake, which she did without emotion.  She had been telling her friends that she was "going home."  It was obvious that she had been prepared to come home with us.
We soon had a room full of people as we spent our first few minutes with Feng Lin.  The orphanage director, assistant director, Jennifer and the assistant teacher Rita, our guide, an older child from the orphanage (who is also being adopted soon by an American family), and the three of us.  Everyone was so kind and so complimentary of Feng Lin.
We received a tour of her classroom.  It was wonderful!  Bright and colorful and full of supplies for the children.  Jennifer gave us four huge folders of all of Feng Lin's classwork.  She has learned so much!  We are so grateful for the love and care that she has received.
After the tour and a group photo...

we headed outside to the van.  That moment will forever be etched in my memory.  We were all crying (except Feng Lin.)  At one point, Chris placed Feng Lin in the van and the director came up to her and said "One more hug," but Feng Lin shook her head no.  She was ready to go.  I placed Feng Lin on my lap and watched them all crying as we drove away.  It was absolutely heart-wrenching.  I promised them all repeatedly that we would forever love and care for Feng Lin and that we would send updates often.

Day 1 Down

Didn't think I' write again, but trying desperately to stay a wake until 8:30!  Jet lag..ugh! It is painful. Today consisted of a trip to the bank to exchange money, a meeting with Susan to review our paperwork for tomorrow, a huge, I mean GI normous (spelled that way intentionally) lunch, and a trip to Chinese Costco for some groceries.  After Susan left, we decided to do a lot of walking to keep ourselves awake.  Found ourselves in the midst of Chinatown-cockroaches on skewers and all!  Next stop was Forbidden City, just for a quick picture.  It is only a few blocks away and today was a fairly low smog, high sunshine day. Had to take advantage despite the jet lag that left Chris and me speechless for most of our journey.

Needless to say, we are NOT going to the House Party tonight:(  I am thoroughly bummed, but considering I can barely keep my eyes open at 8pm and we are meeting our daughter in 14 hours, it is a wise decision.

So, Chris and I have individually had our panic attacks today about our lives being forever changed tomorrow.  For me, it is like labor.  I am so desperate to finally see my child's face, to hold her in my arms.  Yet the moments leading up to that moment are full of worry, pain, doubt.  I have had the amazing blessing to have childbirth and adoption, yet having experienced it in the past does not lessen the anxiety, pain, fear, and excitement in the least!  Chris and I are full of intense emotions now, but of one thing we are completely certain.  God has had a plan for this child since before we ever saw her face, before she was ever born.  We have been blessed beyond belief to be a part of HIS plan for her.  We look forward to watching His plan unfold, beginning with our meeting tomorrow.
Good night!

We're Here!

Whew...we made it!  Not without a few adventures along the way...

Started off at 10 am.  Thanks for the ride to the airport, Katie Tucker.  Easy flight to Chicago.  Bam!  Four hour delay for our flight to Beijing.  Tried to make the best of our delay.  Chair massages, yoga (thanks Chicago for the yoga room:), and a bottle of wine and dinner.  Start chatting with the couple next to us at dinner.  Ends up she is the internationally renowned DJ Tracy Young with her manager, Michael.  Had no clue who she was, but after a google search realized this was a big deal:)  They lovingly nicknamed us Georger (Clooney) and Meg (Ryan) and invited us to be their VIP guests at the club in Beijing where she is DJing on Saturday night.  A few small problems with this offer-Problem 1.-The show starts at midnight!  Problem 2.- Didn't exactly bring club attire for this trip.  Problem 4.- I don't own any club attire in the first place.  Problem 5.- We are scheduled to meet our daughter the next morning at 10am.  Would prefer to be at the top of my game for this one.  Still undecided, but SO leaning toward at least checking it out!  Chance of a lifetime!

Got to Skype with the kiddos before we got on next flight.  Thank you dear friend, grocery store Amy, for having my kids.  They all seemed completely great.

Finally arrived in Bejing at around midnight China time, 11am our time.  The most bubbly, sweet woman, Susan, greeted us with a giant bear hug.  She will be our guide for the next ten days and there are no other families traveling with us so we have her all to ourselves.  She is incredibly warm and has already started correcting my horrible Mandarin pronunciations.  For starters, our daughter is not Feng Lin.  She is "Fung Lee-en."

Arrived at Imperial Mansion at 1am.  They have no record of our reservation.  Chris, who made the reservation, confidently pulls up the email confirmation.  It's the wrong hotel!!!!  I love my husband very dearly, but I must admit I did not like him too much at that moment.  After some negotiating, we get a room at Imperial Mansion, but have to pay for the first night at other hotel that would have been about an hour away from center city.  Worth it in the long run.

So we get to our one bedroom apartment, and it is an apartment!  For real!  "Fung Lee-en is going to think this is our home!"  2:30am-Ambien-induced sleep.  A mere 27 hours since our travels first began.  Four hours later...Ambien-induced coma is over.  This is going to be a long day!

24 hours til we meet our baby girl!

TWO DAYS UNTIL TRAVEL

Well, I have reached maximum sleeplessness now.  I wake with thoughts racing every night.  One minute I am imagining embracing our little girl, the next minute I am panicking that I haven't learned enough phrases to communicate with her.  The next minute I am worried about how this new season is going to impact my three kiddos at home, and so on...  The only things that have kept me sane are God and my husband.  Both of them seem to balance my craziness quite well.  God has answered my prayers by continuously letting me experience little miracles that give me peace.  Some examples just this week...
1. My heart was aching for Feng Lin wanting to bring her friends with her.  Prayed about those two children. Miraculously met a woman on Facebook.  Her family is adopting one of the girls!  Here is the US!  Aaaahhhhh!

2. My dear friend, Katie, gave us a Christmas cactus after we brought home Quinn three years ago.  She said it should bloom around Christmas to help us remember Quinn's Forever Family Day (it never has. Ha!)  But I just looked at it a couple days ago and it had bloomed!  Overnight!  Just in time for Feng Lin's Forever Family Day!

3. Our guardian angel, Jennifer, just sent new pictures to us that were taken over Halloween (yes, Feng Lin learned about Halloween and went trick-or-treating.) 

Here are 10 questions that I cannot wait to answer about our daughter...
1. What does her laugh sound like and what makes her laugh?
2. What does her cry sound like and what makes her cry?
3. Is she stubborn or easy-going?
4. What is her favorite food, color, toy, activity?
5. Is she ticklish?
6. Does she have any freckles or birthmarks?
7. Is she chatty or quiet?
8. Is she a miss priss or tomboy or somewhere in between?
9. Does she like to sing or dance?
10. Is she more on the silly side or serious side? (The picture above may give a clue about that one:)
Next post...from Beijing!

EIGHT (loooong) DAYS UNTIL TRAVEL

Since my last post, Marin had her 4th birthday!  October 6, 2014.  Weeks later, we received pictures from the party they had for her.  We sent a cake, learning puppy (getting in some English:), and new pictures.  Her teacher, Jennifer, sent us a video of her class singing happy birthday to her and a video of her reading our letter to Marin in Mandarin. Marin was so still and thoughtful while the letter was being read to her.  She seemed to be soaking it all in.  At the end of the letter she said "I love you" in ENGLISH at the prompting of her teachers.  I have played that clip a million times!  Her voice is so precious!  We are forever grateful to our guardian angel, Jennifer, for sharing pictures and video and for her loving care of Marin.  Seeing her thrive has eased the wait immensely!

On October 30, we received our travel approval!  While we were ready to get on a plane immediately, we received the heartbreaking news that we would be delayed in our travels due to slow adoption processing in Beijing, where Marin lives.  So, while we have read about many families heading to China, we are still here in the US waiting to get on that plane!  We will be leaving in 8 days, Thursday, Novemeber 21.  We are scheduled to meet Marin for the first time on Sunday, November 23.  Oh how my heart is yearning for that day!!!!!  Jennifer has emailed us to say that they are telling Marin every day that we are coming soon and that she is excited.  She also asked her Jennifer if she could bring two of her friends with her when she comes to America.  That one sent my heart into my throat.  Oh how I wish we could, Marin.  I wish we could!

Getting closer!

Since my last post, we have jumped some major hurdles in the International Adoption world!  We received our LOA (China saying, "Yep, we give you permission to adopt Feng Lin"), our I-800 (the US saying, "Yep, we give you permission to go get your girl since China says it's ok"), and just last night I completed the FINAL document, the DS-260 (Feng Lin's Visa application to come to the US.)  Typically, that document would have been hand delivered to the US Consulate in Gunagzhou today, but the biggest Chinese holiday of the year just happened to start TODAY!  Puts us three days behind plus another day behind for Columbus Day off in a couple weeks.  All these holidays are keeping us from our girl!  At this point, all hopes of meeting Marin in October are gone.  Now, our hope is that we could be home by Thanksgiving.  With all the holidays holding up our paperwork in China, though, it may be a long shot:(

On the bright side, we are finished with paperwork...all paperwork...every single paper that I have filled out since January!  The paperwork pregnancy is over!  Now we are ready for the delivery!  So. So. Ready!  Nesting is in full swing.  Organizing, straightening, and organizing some more.  Re-reading all of my adoption books and making myself (and Chris) a nervous wreck.  We added Marin's bed and Quinn has been sleeping in it every night, though she assures us she will be moving back to her "tall" bed when Marin comes home because she knows that Marin is scared of heights:)
New room set up...

We have had a lot of contact recently with Marin's teacher.  She has been our guardian angel.  In a recent email she said that Marin is sometimes very stubborn, "cry for a long time over little thing."  She also told us that Marin loves to eat.  Considering the fact that Chris and I have already discussed taking out a loan to feed the three ravenous beasts we already have, I think we can handle that one!  She also continues to share how incredibly clever Marin is "learning new things."  Yet to be determined if that is a god or bad thing:)

The area of concern that we would love prayer over is that her teacher said she is still wearing her back brace all the time because without it she leans to the right.  Our doctor said this should not be the case.  Our concern is that she may need surgery very soon to replace the rods that she had inserted last August.  We won't know for sure until we get home and have her evaluated.  Prayers for Dr. wisdom and her comfort and health please.

Here are a couple recent pictures her teacher sent to us...

As you can see, Marin is thriving.  She is being stimulated.  She is being loved.  What more can we ask for.  Sure eases the angst as we wait.  Next post...Travel Approva!