Orphanage Visit and Day off!

Sorry for my delay in posting a blog.  Yesterday it was a little tough to get around to blogging.  We were able to visit Shep's orphanage.  We only got to see a small portion of it. We were able to play with some children while there but they did not allow us to take pictures while we were up there. We SO wanted to take photos.  It was a good visit...but it would have been nice to have seen more.  I posted photos on FB yesterday of our visit.

One thing that was very interesting while we were there...as we were leaving the orphanage Shep's foster dad met us outside the gate.  It was uncomfortable for everyone.  He kept motioning for Shep to let him hold him, and Shep kept shaking his head no and pushing away with his hand.  (there is supposed to be no contact between the foster parents and adoptive families...even our guide was uncomfortable).  The foster dad told Shep that the foster mom was waiting on his phone call.  That would explain his constant fight to get to the phone in the hotel room. :( Especially at night.  We finally put all the phones in the closet. It just makes it harder on Shep.

Last night was tough...but not as tough as the first night.  He cried just a little bit...then Mark got him to sit and watch some of "Daddy Day Care" on the ipod with him.  It has to be hard not knowing the language...but he sat and watched it and fell asleep.  So glad!!

One thing we do know...he LOVES technology. He know's all about an iPad and LOVES to play fruit Ninja!! LOL...He's good at it!! He also loves Thomas the Tank and Sponge Bob...and also likes the Chinese cartoon The Pleasant Goats.  He loves noodles too!!!

Today we spend most of the day wandering from the hotel to the attached mall.  It was a free day and whoa...it was a tough day.  All of us in a hotel room with not much to do but wonder around a mall...was a little boring and exhausting for all of us!!

Tomorrow we go to a Panda Zoo.  It should be fun and interesting for all of us!! :) I'll have more photos on FB for it!!

OH...before I forget...please keep the US Consulate and all the Consulate appointments in your prayers. We want God's will and HIS Divine plan and appointment ultimately...but we SO can't wait to get home!!

I'll leave the blog tonight with a short video of Shep counting to 10 in Chinese. It is SO CUTE! Our guide in Beijing showed us how to count to 10 using only one hand instead of both.  It has been a great thing...cause Shep loves to count to 10 for us!!!

Here is a little sneak of this precious little boy God has blessed us with!! Enjoy! I'll post again tomorrow! Love and appreciate you all!

Gotcha Day

What an unbelievable Day!! We woke up with much excitement and anticipation to meet our little man. We had to sign papers first and didn't go until around 1:30pm to get him.

When we walked into the room the minute he saw us he hollered "Mama, Baba!!!" And then he ran to us. He was very well prepared!! Thanks to all the wonderful caregivers here in Chongqing.

From that moment, he ran from me, to Mark to Sophie, to Silas and to Sadie calling them by their Chinese name of big sister and big brother! He was very excited.

We pulled out some toys we had brought for him and by FAR his favorite was the little Fisher Price digital camera. He play with us with that the whole time we were in there!! He ran the batteries down and filled up the camera. He took over 300 photos!!!

He did great and has such a sweet spirit and such a happy heart. He is precious. Last night at bedtime...I felt so bad for him. He began to holler for his foster mom. He was visibly uncomfortable. He wouldn't take his clothes off to out on Jammie's. we just let him keep his clothes on.

I stayed up all I could and eventually had to lay down. Mark and Silas played with him some. But it got so late. He was avoiding sleep at all costs. But when it was time, he got up in the bed with me and sat up. He stared across the room and put his little head in his hands. Then he started to bawl!! I felt so sorry for him. I know he had to be extremely uncomfortable in a strange place with strange people. We just let him cry and held him until he eventually laid down and went to sleep.

I was so glad he fell asleep. It's good that he grieved...but it's so pitiful to sit there while he is screaming and crying and all we can do is love him and pray for him. I know night times are always the hardest and it will get better thru the rest of this week and next week.

Having Sophie, Silas and Sadie was huge!!! It not only helped Shep feel comfortable and have someone to play with...it was priceless for them to experience this as well. We are so glad they are with us!!! It is such a blessing!!!

And what an incredible help Tonya has been. You can thank her for all those amazing photos she took. She captured the moment perfectly!!! Thanks to The Bohlingers for sharing her with us these couple of weeks!!!

Well...it's 2am here and I need to try and get a little sleep. Ill post again tomorrow night!! We go and see the orphanage today. After his sadness last night it makes me nervous. But I know it will be good for him and all of us!!! Ill do all I can to take good pics. Love you all!! Thanks so much for the prayers!!
Blessings,
Mark and Buffi

We Made It To Chongqing!

We had a wonderful couple of days in Beijing.  Not only was it wonderful to see all the amazing historical sites...but it did us good to try and overcome some of this jetlag.  Although...I've been awake every morning between 2am and 4am no matter what! :-/ Praying I can sleep all night tonight!

Our morning was pretty good. We were SO relieved that Mark found his iPhone! That was such a blessing!!! We left around 10:30 for the airport to head out to Chongqing. Chongqing is Shepard's home town.  It is a very beautiful town and is seems very well taken care of.  It is HUGE!! Our guide said about 32 million people!! Whew!! Cannot believe that!!

Tonight as we were shopping for a few things for the week...Sadie got a little overwhelmed.  There are SO MANY people here. I know it must seem overwhelming to her for everyone to look like her.  She said it was.  We had  a good chat and cry time tonight, just the two of us.  It was good for her I believe!!  It is an experience I believe that will leave a lasting impression on her and she will never forget it!! Continue to keep her in your prayers as we go to the orphanage to visit on Tuesday.  I know every little thing we do will stir lots of emotions for her!

We will be uniting with Shepard around Midnight on Mother's Day night (Central Time) there in the US.  So it is less than 24 hours before we meet him.  We have been praying for him and praying for all of us as well!!!

The kids are excited and Silas talks non stop about him and cannot wait to finally have a brother!! I am praying that they have a good connection and that the transition goes smooth!!

It is late...and I do need to get to bed.  Thank you all for praying over the next 24 hours.  These will be very important times.  I promise I will update with all the details of Gotcha Day and photos and all!!! Can't wait!

Love you all and appreciate you all!! Hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day!
Blessings,
Mark & Buffi

China Trip - Day 2 (Beijing)

We had another awesome day today!! Aside from the fact that Mark lost his iPhone for about 24 hours, and then found it JUST NOW - PRAISE THE LORD - Everything else has been awesome and adventurous! Mark actually crossed the CRAZY street as a pedestrian and made it back ALIVE!! WHOHOO!! That in itself was a huge feat! LOL!!  We also did some other worth while things!!

The Great Wall is just the most amazing thing to experience.  Not only is it visually majestic...the history behind it is just overwhelming.  Our guide, Michael, has done an excellent job at giving us a tremendous amount of history this time.  We have learned so much more about the culture and history this time than we did last time!!!

Today we not only did The Great Wall, but we also were able to go to The Jade Factory, The Silk Factory, a real Tea room (and learned SO MUCH about tea and its health for us).  We had a wonderful lunch!!! Michael our guide said it was considered a country style/village style cooking.  We absolutely loved it!!!

Overall it was just an amazing day.  It is very hard to communicate the sights and sounds of all we see and do.  Pictures do not do it justice.  If any of you get a chance to visit...you MUST!!! Just amazing!!

We are getting our bags packed again tonight before we head off to bed.  We leave for Shepards home town!! AHHH!! We are very excited.  So two more sleeps until we are able to meet our little Shepard boy!! We look so forward to it!!

Just like last post...it took too long to post too many photos. We have uploaded a few onto FB.  Most of them are the sights we saw today.  It was just awesome!! Thank you all for continuing to pray for us as we end this "touring" portion of our trip, and we move into the whole purpose of the trip...do bring our precious boy home!!! We will keep you all posted and will try to blog tomorrow night from Chongqing!!
Blessings,
Mark & Buffi

China Trip - Day 1 (Beijing Tour)

Whew...we finally got things worked out where we can access these sites in our room.  Wifi isn't very easy to use in our hotel room here in Beijing.  We eventually just hooked up the laptop through the cord and it is much easier to access things.  Sorry for delays in posting.  We were extremely tired last night when we finally got in.  We were just too tired to get anything done!!

Today we had a great day!! We thought we'd sleep in a little since we didn't need to meet our guide until 9:30am.  We woke up between 4:00 and 4:30am and could not go back to sleep.  Gotta love jet lag!! It is definitely good in the adoption process...to do a couple days touring like this...just to get your body clock adjusted to China time.  Otherwise...when we would get our little one...we'd be SO EXHAUSTED!! So...by the time we leave here on Sunday...we should be adjusted and rested up from that trip!! So glad!!

We did a few things around Beijing today.  We saw The Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, The Summer Palace and The Hutong.  It was so great for the kids to see these things.  Silas was a "movie star". All kinds of people would come up to him and want their picture made with him. If they didn't ask...they sure stared a lot!!! It was so funny!!! I'm sure it was his blonde hair!! He loved it!!

Between touring our guide, Michael talked a lot about Chinese culture.  He couldn't believe we already have three children and are adopting another one.  He said in China...children are looked at as a burden. :( That is so sad.  Really broke our heart. It was an interesting look into the way the culture is around here!

Michael is a great guide!! We did some fun things today.  We would LOVE to share a few photos with you. Unfortunately...blogger is moving very slowly and we aren't able to load photos very fast at all.  If you are FB friends with us...we have a ton of them that went onto FB.  If our internet access gets better once we move on to Chongqing, we will post photos on our blog!!

Tomorrow we get to go to The Great Wall and maybe the Jade or Silk factory.  We're remaining flexible. It is all just very cool!! We promise to keep you all updated as much as possible!!

Just three sleeps until we finally get to meet Shepard!!! We cannot wait and we are so thankful for all of your prayers and support!! Please continue to pray for the day we connect!!! It is hard to believe that it is already here!!!

Thats all for now!!! We will post again as soon as we have the opportunity! Hopefully we can have photos for you on here soon!! Until then..feel free to check them out of Facebook!!

Love and appreciate you all!! We will connect soon!!
Blessings,
Mark & Buffi

We're Here!!

After 24 hours of traveling, a security pat down, a lost wheel on our brand new luggage and Chinese customs... We made it into Beijing!! The travel went pretty smooth and we are all safe. But I must admit, there is nothing better than walking out in a foreign country and seeing a guy standing outside the customs area with a sign that says "Young." Our guide's name is Michael and he has been very helpful.

Right now it's 4:45am Beijing time and Silas and I (Mark) are downstairs in the lobby because there is wi-fi. We had a few hiccups last night with the Internet, but we will hopefully have it all worked out today. We will be going to Tiennamen Square, the Forbidden City and a Hutong tour today, so I am quite sure Buffi will be posting with more details and pictures tonight.

We love you all!
Mark

On our way!!

We are on our first leg to China!! Our flights will leave in the morning headed that way!! We should arrive in Beijing on Thursday the 9th!! We promise to keep everyone posted of our trip!! Thank you for your continued prayers!! We love and appreciate you all!!! Until next post..hope you all have a wonderful day!!
Blessings,
Mark and Buffi