phew!

Sorry about that!

Travel + newfound internet issues at each hotel we arrive at = difficulty updating here.

After my last post, we checked-out of our hotel (the Lakeside) in Fuzhou and picked up James' passport.  So cute!

Then we headed to the airport to hop our flight to Guangzhou.  In case you're interested, we now know (after butchering these cities' names for months!) that they're pronounced 'Foo-joe' and 'Gwong-joe.'  :)

We ended up having a longer night than expected.  Our flight was supposed to leave at 6:45, but didn't leave til close to 8:00.  

Ready to soar on wings like eagles on his first flight.  

Karen said he looks like he's wearing a life preserver!  :)

We arrived in GZ at about 9:30 PM to our new guide, Aron.  Penny was delightfully sweet (in fact, Karen and I teared up saying good-bye to her!).  We just loved her and vowed to keep in touch.  I can't wait to send her a care package from the U.S.!  She's so curious about the U.S. and says very matter-of-factly that she wanted to go there to get her master's degree, but can't because she was told that in order to get a visa to go she would need to have $10,000 in the bank.  Huh?  We can only figure that's because China wants to know their citizens have the means to return?  Not sure.  Nonetheless, we're delighted to have met her and can't wait to keep in touch.  She is a true sweetheart.  

God has blessed us with just the right guide for each leg of this trip.  Penny was gentle and sensitive during our first days with James even if we didn't feel like sightseeing or doing much.  

Aron is efficient and maneuvers us through this part of the process like a pro!  She knows this system well and had us in and out of the medical exam (er, zoo) in no time!  My goodness it was crazy!  But exciting too!  There were about 30 (!) families there having their children examined.  All of the families in China right now (at this very step of the process) convene in GZ to wrap up the final stage of their adoptions which is completing the medical screening and getting the adoptive child's visa to leave China and enter the United States.  All of this is done through the U.S. consulate which is here in GZ therefore the place is swarming with American families and their newly adopted children.  It's kinda cool.  Especially after being in Fuzhou where we were the only westerners, so we constantly got what Karen calls the 'stink eye'!  It was outa control.  

Here are some photos of the medical exam experience.

(Payton's thrilled, eh?)  :)

Could he be any cuter?

This child continues to amaze us.  It's not that nothing bothers him, it's just his enormously sweet nature about everything.  He just rolled with it today.  And there were a lot of kids coming out of the examination rooms crying.  Or just crying because they had to be there, period.  He just rolls.  I know it's early with James, but I feel like God knows what I can handle so he gave us a pretty darn laid back guy.  We shall see...

After his height, weight, ear, nose and throat exam he had a physical exam with the doctor (above).  First of all, our boy is confirmed to be the peanut we thought he is.  He only weighs 20.7 pounds!  And he's 33 inches.  Our biological kids all weighed 20 pounds at a year.  A year.  James is 2 1/2!  We have only about three outfits of what we brought that fit him.  Most everything we brought is 24 months or 2T.  He really needs to be in 18 months -- possibly even 12 months, in some cases.  So many friends have offered us clothes -- thank you so much!  We'll take you up on it if you have any that are 18 months in size.  :)

Then James had to have a TB test.  He cried for about 10 seconds.  He cried more today when JD walked out of the hotel room to run downstairs and make a copy of his passport!  There appears to be some genuine attachment happening between those two.  So sweet to see for me.  Just makes my heart sing.  

We have to go back in two days to have the site checked where he got the shot.  

All in all, James did great!  And we were in and out of there in maybe an hour and a half.  Aron was on it!    

We even had a small world experience!  There's another family here from Richmond.  We hadn't met them in person but we have several mutual friends who introduced the mom and I via email.  She and I have communicated some and said we'd look for each other once we got to Guangzhou.  As we were pulling in today, JD and I were saying that maybe they'd be there at the same time as us and we could meet.  No sooner do we get into the lobby and we hear, 'Heather and JD!'  It was so cool!  And what's even cooler...they're here with all four of their biological children and a babysitter due to the love and generosity of someone in their church who wanted them to all travel together as a family mission trip to bring home their sister/daughter so they paid for the biological children and teenager to accompany them.  Isn't that awesome!?  I just love stories like that!  

I'll do another post soon about Guangzhou.  Let's just say we're in love with more than just James now!  :)  What a great city!