We're Home

Ok, so I have been a bit remiss in blogging. I have probably lost most of you but now I have so much to tell you!!! After being home only 6 days we celebrated Thanksgiving at home. We had been wondering how this would work out long before we ever met Amy. Would she be totally overwhelmed by everyone? Would she be shy? Would she feel out of place? Knowing that it was going to potentially be a difficult day for her we decided to have the family over to our house so that she could go hide in her room with a sister if necessary. However, we under estimated our new daughter. She is a tough cookie. She did not mingle very much and though her sisters tried to involve her she wanted to stay near Baba (Daddy). All in all I was very proud of her. She has learned to greet people with "I am pleased to meet you". Oh, if only you could hear her voice and accent when she says it. Truly, it is soooo cute. She liked the turkey and stuffing!!! She also liked the chocolate pie that Auntie Kim made as we all did.

In Amy's picture dictionary she showed us that she likes bowling so the day after Thanksgiving the kids and I and Cass's friend took her bowling. I wasn't sure that she would actually be pleased at the idea so we didn't tell her where we were going until we got there. We figured once she was there she would just have to have fun. As soon as Cass told her what we were doing she became very excited. She was a little confused as to why she had to put on their shoes, she looked at us funny and shrugged her shoulders and put them on. Then she preceded to boss Josh about getting his shoes on (you've got to love it!) I have no idea if she had ever bowled before or not but she definitely liked it and she did pretty well. Of course she had to have a pink ball even though it wasn't the lightest. Isn't fashion always more important? I suspect that we will be doing more of this. Next time we will drag Daddy along and see how he does!

As most of you know we at the Flatt household homeschool at least until high school. We are working on figuring out where Amy needs to be placed in each subject. We had been warned that some of the orphanages do no school so that is what we had prepared ourselves for. Thankfully Amy was in the public school that was just down the street. She is a great reader. Her reading level goes beyond her comprehension level so we will have to move slowly there. However, we bought the Rosetta Stone English and she is loving it. We will be doing an hour in the morning and an hour at the end of the school day. This program is amazing. You begin by recording your voice and then it teaches and corrects how you pronounce each word. Depending on what level you set it at you can't move ahead until you get it just right. Amy tells us that she loves english. Yeah!!! My goodness, that sure makes life easier. Monday I will order her math now that I have figured out where we want to start. Things are coming together. Obviously history and science will be put on the back burner until the comprehension is better.

Operation Christmas Child!!! What an amazing organization. We were able to go and tour with a few of our other homeschool friends. I don't think that Amy had a clue as to much of what was going on but they had games and crafty things that she was able to enjoy. We travelled from station to station to learn about the process and reason behind Operation Christmas Child. At the last station there was a girl from Texas with a heavy accent (y'alls included!). She shared her amazing story with us. She was now 20 and living in Texas but at age 8 she was put into an orphanage in Russia. At age 10 she was adopted by an American family. She had been a recipient of Operation Christmas Child and she told about how it had made her feel. At the end she asked if anyone had questions and let me tell you there were a ton of them. Josh raised his hand and when she called on him he pointed to Amy and said "see that girl over there? We traveled half way across the world to bring that orphan home!". Whoa - I was horrified!! Sure I can laugh now but only because Amy didn't know what was going on. Kids do say the darnedest things. I am praying though that next time it will be someone elses child.

Today we spent the afternoon cleaning our rental house. Talk about gross. I painted, I am not sure what Mike did but I am sure it was more than the rest of us, Cass cleaned bathrooms, Megan painted Kilz over the purple paint and Nikki and Amy scrubbed a hairy, greasy, saucy refrigerator and stove - welcome to the family Amy!!! She didn't complain at all, she is actually a very hard worker. She loves to help. It makes you wonder what life was like for her before. My sweet Cassie (who will be 17 next month) said to me, "Mom, I hope that someday I have a family just like this". I am so proud and grateful for her. I am still waiting for her teenage rebellion to set in!!! When is it supposed to happen?

Now here is the best part of all. First, I want to say that we have been praying fervently for Amy from the day that our hearts were matched with her. God has been faithful to answer those prayers in such a mighty way. I had just been thanking God and thinking that there was only one prayer that I was waiting to see if he would answer but this prayer was more time sensitive. We had been praying that God would be preparing Amy's heart for Him. Thursday she was writing a letter to her old room-mate who arrived in PA on Oct 31 and in the middle of this letter was what looked like a yellow cross. Could it really be? We had only been to church twice and the first time was a disaster as she wasn't feeling well and got sick. Ok, so I say to Amy, "Amy that is very beautiful" and she says in her singsong voice "Is for Jesus!". Whoa. You could have knocked me over with a feather. How could this have happened? Our communication is not that great. I know that I had been praying while in church that even though she couldn't understand the words that God would move in her. Then yesterday she was out playing in the snow with Josh. She came in the house mad. (I had never seen her mad before) I asked her what happened and she said that she was building a heart for Jesus and Josh broke it. Hmmmm. Tonight we watched The Jesus Film in Mandarin. She was very quiet during the movie. After the movie was over she looked at us, smiled and said "I have Jesus! I have Jesus in my heart". God is so faithful and so good. I am overwhelmed by his goodness to me. Amy has been home 15 days now. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that it would happen like this. This is the same girl that was bowing to Buddha 3 weeks ago. I am praising Jesus for being so present, so merciful and so loving.

More later

Finally Home!!!

Ok, so we are home now but we couldn't resist putting this picture up. It is gruesome yet we couldn't help but be fascinated by it. It is the skeleton of a monkey. You can see the fur still on his paws and next to him is a tigers paw. It is orange with black stripes, just like the books I read when I was a child. Why would someone buy these things? Are they good luck charms to the lost? And how do they get them? I probably don't want to know the answer to that. Unfortunately this was not the only street vendor (if you can call a blanket on the side of the road a vendor) they were scattered throughout the market.

This is a picture of Amy's first steps on American soil. Home sweet home. Oh, how I love America!!! Amy became an American citizen with these steps. Isn't that amazing? I am not sure that she really understood what it meant but she will someday. I wonder if someday she won't want to return to China. Hopefully by then she will be prepared for the kindness and hopelessness of so many of the Chinese people. It was such a contrast as I had never imagined. Truly they were some of the nicest people I have ever met yet they are caught in a system that it is near impossible to break out of, one which doesn't allow people opportunity. Truly, we fell in love with so much of China. It really made me appreciate being an American. God Bless America!!

When we finally arrived home after a very slow start from DIA we were met with banners and streamers decorating our house to welcome Amy. What a surprise! She seemed to recognize her name and got a big smile. We have been so blessed by our friends here in Greeley. Some of our neighbors came running over in the dark to meet her (literally running!). Amy who had been a bit shy with strangers up to this point offered them all hugs! And not only had they decorated the outside but also the inside and lavished us with some of the most delicious treats!!! (And after I had vowed to start eating healthy!). Mimi and Papa were here waiting too. She totally knew who they were - Grandmahther and Grandfahther. She was smiling and hugging them too! They also gave her a photo album that had a picture of her on the cover and she said "thats me". What a blessing she is. This is so not what we had prepared for. Praise God!

There was even a gift for her from one of our sweet neighbor girls. Oh, was Amy excited by the gift - "for Bahbie!!!" They were Barbie clothes. Gosh, after that she wasn't even really interested in our house!!! She needed to get Bahbie out and change her clothes. I kid you not, this girl loves Barbie. She named her new Barbie "little Amy". Very cute.

Tonight she got to meet her Aunt Kim and Uncle Chris. She really lights up at meeting family. I am thinking that she has really missed that in her life. Okay, so they brought Amy a gift. Guess what it was? Singing Barbie!!! And guess what she is named? You probably guessed it, Little Amy! However this is a bit confusing so read carefully - They are both named Little Amy except when she is playing with both of them. When both are in use the first bahbie is Little Amy and the second bahbie is Little Cassie!!!! She also has designated one of the older Barbies, that we dug out, as Little Nikki. Poor Meg. She is not home tonight so she has lost out. Perhaps her next bahbie can be Little Meg. Or perhaps Megan should stop going out with friends so that she won't miss out on these great opportunities!

Thursday.

Hmmm. What can I say about yesterday? Truthfully we mostly just wandered all day. Between 10:30am and 11:30am Mike stayed in the room so he could wait to hear if our paperwork was in order. It was. We do no buying of anything without Mike. He is our bargainer. This is good because the rest of us can run away and pretend that we don't know him while he is doing it! Actually they all recognize "big family" and "Joshu". So we now painfully creep away while Mike talks down the price. We have been told by the Chinese that they expect this - we are NOT trying to take advantage of them! Really. This (in the picture above) is the most normal instrument Megan bought. She also bought this other interesting chinese flute, a set of hanging bells and a chinese violin (which is totally cool). Cass has spent a large portion of her money on quirky bags. They are very "Cass". Nikki, who knows?... she is totally random and full of surprises. Amy isn't as into shopping unless it is for Barbie stuff. I am sure that the girls will be changing that attitude!

This waterfall picture is taken in the lobby of our hotel. It is beautiful. There is much more to it than just this but this is all you get to see!!

This picture is NOT a set up. Amy loves this book. Points out things and says "I like this" or "I don't like this". It really is very helpful. It gives us a better glimpse of her personality. Amy likes swimming (as long as it is daddy), basketball, watermelon, the color pink, sunsets and sunrise, skiing and the snow, she likes soccer and she really likes the beach.... She does not like vanilla, snakes, braids, karate, football, smoking, alcohol or milk (many Chinese have a milk intolerance)... They told us that she does not like taking a bath and we have heard that from others too but she has been ok with it so far here. However, if I had to shower or bathe in the bathroom I saw in the orphanage I wouldn't have liked it either. I wonder if they even had hot water.

Tomorrow morning we have to be downstairs ready to go at 5:00am. After travelling for about 20 hours we should arrive at DIA at about 3:45pm Friday afternoon.

I will try to blog one more time before leaving. Today we will take another walk through the medicine market and pet market - I'll try to get pictures.

Later.

Today was an amazing day!!! We went back throught the medicine market and once again saw huge bags full of dead seahorses. We saw chopped off tiger paws (eew) and a monkey skeleton for sale that still had bits of fur stuck to it. We saw big bowls full of live scorpians. What do they do with them, eat them? Eel, centipedes.... you name it. If it is gross we probably saw it and it was fascinating! Unfortunately my battery died before I got many pictures. The picture above is of octopus on a stick - a specialty I guess. The picture does not do it justice, you have to actually see the people heartily chewing on these moist delicious snacks on a stick as the legs dangle and quiver around. Whoa, it is something. We are going back to see more tomorrow. I will make sure that my camera is charged. Fortunately the people enjoy having their pictures taken. Wish you could be here.


Too cute!!!!!!

Red couch day. This is a picture of our portion of the group that went to Zhengzhou. All the kids here are special needs. The rest of our group had their picture taken separately. This was organized chaos and a lot of fun. You can imagine what it was like to try to get that many babies to cooperate after having each family's picture taken separately just beforehand. This is a fabulous group. We have fallen in love with every baby and every family. Can't wait to come home but also am going to hate to say goodbye. Amy was called on numerous times to help to calm the upset babies. She loves them all so much that this was a treat for her.

We finished off the day with a river boat ride along the Pearl River. It was absolutely beautiful. Amy gets motion sickness and so had to take a Dramamine before we went. She did manage to stay awake through the ride though, Yeah!!! The ride was not only beautiful but a lot of fun. We (the girls and I) made a game of trying to get the passing cruise ship people to wave at us. Most didn't wave back. I suspect that they thought that we were crazy Americans. Yes, even Nikki did this with us!!! (Kel, that is in case you were wondering!)

I have mentioned how crazy the driving in China is. It actually is MUCH calmer here in Guangzhou. However, last night our bus was involved in an accident. Nobody was surprised. The biggest surprise is that it hasn't happened sooner. We smashed a new BMW between us (the bus) and a barrier. The crazy car driver was trying to slip through ahead of us, which is pretty normal here. What in the world was he thinking?! Anyways, we ended up being stuck on the bus for quite a long time while we waited for a police report. Fortunately no babies cried and no one needed to "use the toilet". I say it like that because instead of signs pointing you towards a restroom they all just say "toilet".

Right now Amy (also known as MoMo) is sitting on the bed listening to her MP3 player. She sounds as if she is moaning (really) but I suspect it is singing! Hmmm, now this I think she gets from my side of the family!

More later guys. Oh, I was thinking that for any of you that looked at that site with the children I want you to know that kindergarten starts at age 2 so the grade level numbers don't match up with ours.

Blessings to you all!!!

Day at the clinic

Today we spent much of our day at the clinic while all 8 of the families in our group had their children examined and paper work done so that we could bring our children home. Amy was a real trooper. She had more "stations" to go through because she is over 11. First she had a medical where they checked her heart. They told us that she has a heart murmur, which of course we already knew being that that is her "special need". Though they didn't say anything to us we could tell that she didn't do very well on the eye check up either. But this we also suspected since she reads with her books about 4 inches from her face. I hope that she likes glasses!! I told her that glasses are cool in America but I think that she thought I was talking about sunglasses. The question is, do we take her for an eye exam in the near future? I almost want to wait so that she can get a better "feel" for style. I have a feeling at this point she would pick the pinkest glitteriest glasses that she could find!!! (Did I tell you about the silver boots she wanted us to buy her as her one pair of shoes?) Seriously, I am scared!!

After she had her examinations she got the "priveledge" of getting 4 shots and one oral immunization. I know, you are thinking "poor Amy, poor poor Amy". Ok, stop. Do not feel sorry for her because she actually liked the shots. True. She smiled through them and then told someone in her language who then told us that she liked them!!! Isn't that wierd? In this picture she is trying to act sad but in reality was happy happy happy that she got 4 shots. Mike's family likes medicine, needles and blood so I guess that that comes from their side of the family too!!! One of the ladies in our group gave us some candy ahead of time to give her to cheer her up. She insisted that Josh eat half of it (the girls were out shopping). She can be so sweet.

This is one of those exercise parks. The equipment appears to be in better condition but it is not nearly as "cool" as the stuff in Zhengzhou. This thing in the middle is like an exercise bike without pedals. What would you do with that? I have no clue.

I forgot to mention our dinner last night. I wish that I had remembered our camera. There is a famous place here called the Cow and Bridge. We have only heard good things about it. Everyone LIED to us!!! It is Thai food. Wow, is that place.. um.. different. The menu was like spicy intestines and other equally grotesque things. One of the guys in our group ordered chicken and the head was still on it!!! We passed it around and those lucky enough to have their cameras took pictures with it. Oh I wish I had had my camera!!! Cassie and Josh ordered chocolate icecream for dinner. We have never let them do that before but the food was expensive and we didn't think that they would eat it anyways. Well, you would think that icecream would be a safe choice but it was one small scoop in a dish on kidney beans!!!! Eeeew. From what I heard a few of our group were sick and one even went to the hospital by ambulance. Ok, now I am getting off topic but I want to tell you about the cost of medical care here. She went by ambulance, had an EKG and xrays. The total cost was equal to $50.00 american money!!! My co-pay is $35-45!!!

Amy is happily sleeping with Barbie in her (Barbie's) new pink chinese dress. Amy spent much time today with a sewing kit and hair ribbons making Barbie's other outfit "beautiful".

One more thing before I go to bed - anyone who is not a weakling should check out this site. It is older children "interviewing for their lives". See it at www.cwa.org/1hope/01.htm (hope I got that right). The girl on 08-10-4 got me bawling like a baby and I am not even able to listen to the interviews because I don't want Amy to hear them. Nighty night.

At the White Swan Hotel, where we are staying, it is famous for being a five star hotel that caters to the newly adopted families. It is beautiful and big. I will try to get pictures tomorrow. However, we do lack modern internet commodities which is making life a little adventurous here, at least as far as the blogging thing goes, thus the lack of blogging.

Today we visited a Budhist temple. It really was very interesting. People were buying incense and presenting it to the statues. These people were totally serious. People carrying mats so that they could bow down to it (it or him?) Also we had the opportunity to have our children blessed by a Buddhist monk. We chose not to do that but many of the families in our group did have their child blessed. Amy wanted to bow to the statues, hmmm. She is sure in for some serious change. I am not sure whether she understood what was going on while this ceremony went on but we just moved outside and played with the water in the small waterfall. I want you all to notice the pyramid of bottled water at the feet of Buddha!!! Isn't that a crack up? Even Buddha can't drink the water here!! Poor Buddha, I didn't realize that he was suseptable to stomache ailments like us Americans!! (notice I said "stomache ailments"? I changed it from diarrhea so as to sound like a proper genteel lady, did it work?)

I have been so proud of Nikki here. She has really been diligent about befriending and being a good sister to Amy. Amy is doing well. I have heard that when the older children are adopted that they are immature and often regress to about 2 or 3 years of age. I have never understood what that meant. Thumb sucking? Temper tantrantrums? I am beginning to get a picture of it but it is not as severe as all that. If we ask her to do something she doesn't want to do she simply tells us "no". She wants to touch everything (I mean EVERYTHING). She wants to always have her own way and be in charge. She and Josh race to beat eachother to things like the elevator buttons and unlocking the hotel room door. You have to laugh as they are both dead serious about winning! The competition is fierce but with no hard feelings yet. I thought that this would come in time but the time has already arrived. I am glad to be able to get it out of the way now though. Fortunately, it doesn't take much to correct her. She seems to be a people pleaser by nature. She will say, "are you made (mad) at me?" when we do correct her. How can you be mad at that? She has been exposed to so little that I suppose she is over stimulated to begin with.

It is the tradition at the White Swan to present the adopted child with an Adopting Barbie. It is Barbie with a chinese baby. It is pretty cute. When we got back to our room today it was on the desk waiting for her. She was soooooo excited to have a Barbie that she was giddy. We weren't able to spend a lot of time with Barbie because we had to go. Now, most people keep Barbie boxed up as a keepsake but we let the girls bring Amy back to the room while we picked up the laundry and when we got back not only had Barbie been opened but she had had a shampoo and brushing!!! What can I say? I don't think that there was any way we would have been able to keep her out of that box anyways!!! When we went to leave the next time, Amy put Barbie in the box and put her in her bed and pulled the covers up so she (Barbie) could sleep while we were gone. It was very very sweet. That is what this picture is. Amy, now, as I am typing this is asleep with her Barbie. I guess that this does beat Barbie in a box!!

Tomorrow Amy goes for her medical and immunizations. I hear that she is supposed to get 5 of them. I have no idea if she knows or not. Do you think it is better to warn kids? I have never been sure. I tend to warn them as we are walking into the actual room where the doctor will do it. Why give them a chance to worry about it? I don't think I'd want to know.

Today was Mike's birthday. We brought birthday streamers which the girls and J0sh decorated the room with when Mike and I "stepped out" for a few moments. They were very creative, sticking them to the lampshades and walls with candy!!! NOT my idea. Would anyone like to hire them to decorate in your home? They would do it cheap?!! They also blew up balloons. Our guide Joselyn found out and when we got back to our room there was a table that had been rolled in with a Happy Birthday cake and candles. The people here are great.

It is time for bed and I just want to say that I am feeling pretty blessed today. I have 5 wonderful, normal kids that I wouldn't trade for a gajillion dollars. Sleep tight.

Great Day

Sorry guys, the access to blogspot is spotty here and we couldn't get on yesterday so here is our update.



Yesterday we went to the Zhengzhou (pronounced JengJoe) museum. Amy loved it. She told our guide that she had never been there. I guess that there was a lot of history that she had learned in school and now had the opportunity to see. She wanted to read everything. I am glad that we decided to go even though much of it was over our head. This first picture is outside the museum.




This second picture is of the crowds that again gathered to check us out. Aren't they cute? They seem to think that we are very funny. I don't know why but we crack them up. This particular class has British accents when they speak english. I love to listen to them. They don't seem to know very many words but what they do know is pronounced very well.

I forgot to bring the camera when we went on a walk to the park. It was crazily awesome. First, I don't think that I have mentioned that very simple, old workout equipment is randomly placed in the sidewalk along the busy streets. Yes, as you are walking down the street you can stop and exercise! It is awesome. I will try to get some pictures of this. Anyways, there was a "playground area" with 2 swings and more of this "workout" equipment. It is really fun stuff. They have this free swinging elliptical thing. The girls and I got on it and our legs started swinging so fast that we were totally out of control. Chinese people on the otherside of the fence were taking our pictures (no surprise there!). We must have looked like the "crazy Americans". We were laughing so hard we were crying. It was awesome. Any of you coming to Zhengzhou have to come here to "play". It may have been the most fun we have had so far. Again the crowds came and looked at our tags which explain who we are and where we are from. Some got teary eyed and wanted to thank us. They continue to talk to us and Amy but I have not a clue of what they were saying. Mike sent me off to the lousy old swings!!! That is what I get for not studying Mandarin with him! (Note to self - should have hidden Mike's Mandarin cd's so I wouldn't look so dumb and missed out on all the good stuff!) Meg is very disappointed with the rain today too, we wanted to go back for more laughs.



Now a little more info on Amy. She is a typical teen in many ways. She is addicted to anything electronic. The camera is one of her favorite toys and though I hate to admit this I have just hidden it from her. She takes pictures of EVERYTHING! This picture above is of the end of her foot as we were walking by the pool. We probably have about 25 pictures of our feet now and many of the television set. Hmmm, glad we live in the era of the digital camera!!! I had also taken to hiding the remote to the tv but Mike gave me a dirty look so I took it out of my pillowcase and handed it over. I wish I weren't such a control freak. I have to laugh about this because I am probably going to spend a week watching more tv than I watch in a year. But, this is her last chance to watch these programs. There is actually one channel here that appears to be the chinese version of Disney Channel. The programs look pretty cute. Sometimes I think that I am figuring out what is going on just as she flips the channel!!! She definitely gets that from Mike's side of the family!!!! (Sorry Mimi and Papa) There is also a cool gameshow that I am beginning to like but I don't think that I will ever find out how it ends - yes... due to channel flipping!



This is a picture of Amy with Josh's Leapster. She loves this too. Unfortunately it is raining today and I have a feeling that this is how much of the day will be spent. Amy is a delight and though I have just told some of our family secrets she is very receptive to direction. We are just trying to dish it out in small doses. There is so much for her to learn due to different cultures and her lack of a normal life, my poor baby. Time for me to go and hide the computer!!!! Love you all. Thanks again for your emails and blog responses. We don't have a lot to do in the evenings and it is fun to hear from you.

Saying goodbye is so hard

Ok, so today was a very wonderful and hard day all taken and shaken together. First we went to visit Amy Meng's orphanage. I am so glad and grateful that we were all able to go. It was very obvious that these kids are very loved by their nannies. There were many tears as Amy said goodbye. Not only by Amy but by every adult there. You could tell how much they loved her. This orphanage is a Social Welfare Institute, which means that it is the home for children, elderly and disabled. They have just built a new orphanage nearby specifically for children and so have moved all of the babies out and are not taking in any additional children. This picture is taken in a large, cold room. The children are sitting on stools watching a program in what feels like a prison. It is unfortunate because, again, I think that these people who work here are really doing their best with what little they have. They were very gracious to us.

There aren't many children left here. The numbers are dwindling. The 2 boys in the front right are about to be adopted. They are the lucky ones. They will finally have the opportunity to have a life with a loving family. I wonder if they know. I wonder if they have been told that their lives are about to take a turn, that they will not stay in China to become beggars because of disabilities or lack of education. They will come to America where everyone has opportunity. I love America. I don't think that I realized until a couple of days ago how much I love America. Ok, Beijing was cool but I am now officially content.... no, more than content with living in the grand USA! For those of you who are not familiar with this orphanage, it is all special needs. It is the children who have never been put up for adoption on the healthy baby list. Their chances of being adopted are not good, their chance of ever having a family, finding a job or even having a home are pretty slim.

Ok, so everyone in our group here has adopted a special needs child. I often hear of the children who have trouble attaching or those who are angry and don't want to go with their new parents. This is the total truth - not one of the new families here is struggling with any of that. I know that every case is different but what are the chances that 9 out of 9 families have ended up with happy kids? I don't know but I wonder if the special needs children don't end up with more compassionate care takers. If any of you are thinking about adopting please consider these children. In our group we have 2 with heart problems, 2 with possible cerebral delays, 1 missing hand, one probably in need of having part of his leg amputated, one Hep B and 3 cleft lip/palates. These kids are happy and capable. They are fighters! Little Jasmine, with a missing hand, is already riding on her dad's shoulders and singing in english!!! She is two and cute as can be!!

I am now officially off of my soapbox. The above picture is of Amy's room. It looks a lot nicer here than it was. She shared it with one other girl. Again, you could tell that they really did try to make it nice but it is heartbreaking to stand in a cold, cement room that they call home and know that that may be all that they ever know.

Now is the part when there was a lot of crying and goodbye's. Many of the nannies had brought presents for Amy. It was very sweet. Walking away and seeing her look back over her shoulder at those who had taken care of her and loved her was hard for us - what must it of been like for her. Even a gentleman in a wheelchair and his aide were crying. She was very loved.

Next, they took us to her school. Now that was something!!! She flew from the van and went running into the building. Where was Amy going? Shouldn't someone stop her? Then I could see her running across the outside of the 2nd floor and disappeared into what appeared to be a classroom. A loud cheer went up and then the class (all 49 of them) came charging (literally!) out of the classroom looked over the rail at us, started waving and ran down the stairs. Thus the above pictures! It was quite a site. What beautiful children. They surrounded Amy and us and were VERY curious. I loved them!! They asked me my last name and when I told them "Flatt" the boys looked at eachother and cracked up. What in the world is so funny?!! If they weren't so darn cute I might be insulted. We wear a name badge, ID type tags on a lanyard, around our neck (in case we get lost someone will bring us back to the hotel). The kids crowded around and took turns reading them. They were so cute. If you wave at them they start giggling. I want to be a teacher at that school (whine). Amy brought small gifts (gel pen refills, strange gift, but both she and our guide said it was a good gift) for everyone in her class and special gifts for 4 of her best friends. With the crowd around her I couldn't really see how it all went down. She also received gifts from a few of the girls.

This is way too long I know and probably way more info than you want but it was a huge day for us.

She is beginning to feel more comfortable with her english. I suspect she can say more than she has let on. When we were leaving for dinner she said "lets go". We'll tell her something and she'll say "I know". All of these little phrases popping out are a joy for us! She is definitley an independent girl. I guess you would have to be. She wants control of the room key, the camera and the remote control! We don't mind giving up the key or the camera but she is going to have to fight for that remote!!! I actually found myself hiding it from her! How pitifull is that? Mike looked at me like I was nuts and I decided he was right and turned it over - but I wasn't happy!

Adoption Day

Today was adoption day. All 9 of our families started our morning with meeting in the lobby and waiting for our guide Yisha to walk us to sign our adoption papers. Amy is now officially ours as far as China is concerned. Next week we will deal with the US side of it. This first picture is of us in the office just after we signed the paperwork. The lady in charge of the documents spoke only chinese. She would tell us what was going on and Yisha would translate. This meant that Amy Meng understood everything and you could tell by the look on her face that she was very happy. Also, because there were so many of us and only 2 of them doing the paperwork they would occasionally ask Amy to help. I think that she felt very special today in that office, at least I hope she did as we think she is very special.

This second picture is to give you an idea what walking on the sidewalks is like. It is the adventure of a lifetime. This picture really doesn't depict what it is like. I had to wait for them to clear a bit so that I could take the picture since I was trying to keep up with our group and dodge the bikes at the same time while holding onto Amy and Josh. The bikes come behind and beep to let you know they are there because they have no intention of slowing down or stopping. They just swerve around you. I have to say I actually enjoy this!!! It really is an adventure.

Later today we went to Lotus Market which I think is actually Walmart. I wish that I had brought my camera. It is 3 stories and they have moving walkways like in the airport to get you upstairs with your shopping cart. It is a million times more crowded than our Walmarts and it was thrilling!! They only gave us an hour and a half to shop which was not nearly enough. We bought Amy some clothes but our main thing was to get her some books, music and DVDs. We wanted to make sure that she had these things for her before we got home and didn't have access to them. She was so sweet and just glowed whenever we would buy her anything. She kept trying to put things back because she didn't want us to spend any money but she was so happy. I just love her so much!!! What a sweet girl. The first book she picked out and has hardly put down was on learning english. I am very impressed.

Right now the kids are on the bed watching Tom and Jerry cartoons. That is what this picture is. We just took it. She is going to fit in just fine.

And this last picture I threw in just because I love it. It is a self portrait of Mike and Amy. Amy loves to get the camera and take pictures of everything. I do mean everything!!!

Tomorrow morning we are going to visit her orphanage and school. She seems to be very excited to go. I was a little surprised but very happy because I really wanted a glimpse of what her life has been like. I will tell you more about it tomorrow.

See Megans blog at www.chippergal.blogspot.com

God is so good.

As we waited in the lobby to leave to pick up our kids we were all sick with anxiety. Our hopes were, of course, that it would all go smoothly but nobody knew what they had in store for them. Our four families descended on the registration office to meet our children for the first time. I don't even know how to tell you how it felt for all of us standing outside in the dark hallway looking into a room lit only by sunlight searching the small crowd for our childs face. We quickly spotted our Amy Meng and she spotted us. Her face lit up, she pointed at us and quickly walked towards us. I have been trying to spend my time and energy preparing for the worst or even a bit of bad - what a waste of time. Our daughter is beautiful, sweet, delightful and outgoing. She is not shy. She cannot speak much english but knows many words.

As we walked back to the hotel she would take our hands and kiss them. She is soooo wonderful. Mike had a book with pictures to learn english/mandarin from and Amy Meng loved it. She would point at pictures and say the word in english. The best part was when she said "I like watermelon", Mike made a face and said "I like watermelon too!". After that she kept saying "Father likes watermelon!". I cannot tell you how precious she is, actually I guess that I have about a million times!!!

The other families babies are adorable!! There has been a bit of crying but not much. They are such a blessing to us. We have all talked about how people seem to think that we are doing a wonderful thing but ALL of us feel that we have done it for selfish purposes and have been the ones with the biggest blessing.

Thank you all for your love and support! We couldn't have done it without you.

More later.

Zhengzhou

This morning was our last morning in Beijing. At 8:30AM, we left the hotel to head to the airport, where we flew out of at 11:40AM. The 2-hour flight brought us to Zhengzhou (pronounced jeng-jo) where our beautiful Amy is!!

Today, after leaving the Zhengzhou airport, has mostly been spent in the Crowne Plaza hotel. We walked down the street, trying to find a place to eat, which ended with no results. So, we ended up eating dinner right in the hotel.

Finally, tomorrow we will get Amy Meng!!!! At 9:00AM (7PM Colorado time), we will get to meet her for the first time. We're hoping this will be a smooth transition for her, from the orphanage into our family. But, it's in God's hands, and we will trust in Him in this situation.

Beijing (Day 2)

Today we went to a Jade Factory for a tour. I didn't realize that there was so much to learn about jade. Green jade, white jade, red jade purple jade.... After the Jade Factory we went to the Great Wall. It was fascinating. It snakes throught the countryside for several thousand miles, much of which are stairs - big, steep stairs. Mike and the kids climbed all the way to the top, but I stopped at the first tower after nearly dying!!! The steps are uneven, some are 5 bricks high and some are 1. My legs were like jello and I could hardly breathe (note to self... get exercising!)

They said that at the top there was a group of Chinese girls who absolutley loved Josh. They took pictures with him, holding him, hugging him and kissing his cheeks. When they started back down again, there were a bunch of people taking pictures of Josh's new friend Taylor, who's a little blond girl in our travel group, and Josh walked over to say hi to Taylor and the Chinese got all excited and a crowd formed, taking pictures of the two of them together. I love these people!!!

This evening we saw an acrobatic show that was unbelievable. Too much to describe tonight but it is a must see for everyone.

Tomorrow much of our group will be splitting into 3 different provinces. The 2 other provinces will be getting their children tomorrow. I am thrilled for them but also a little envious. It is hard to be so close and yet not be able to have her. So, tomorrow we are off to Zhengzhou where our daughter lives. We will be in Zhengzhou until Sunday. 2 more days!!!!

Time for bed. Tomorrow morning we are back on a plane.

Beijing (Day 1)

Today was amazing, truly The Great Adventure. I am not sure what I thought Beijing would be like, but certainly not like this. After watching the Olympics, I had pictured an Americanized metropolis, but this Beijing was nothing like that; at least not the Beijing we saw today.

This first picture is of a monk (?) with Josh. He actually asked to have his picture taken with Josh. This was great with us since we wanted a picture too!!!


I have fallen in love! In love with the Chinese people and with Beijing. The Chinese people are so incredibly gracious and nice. They seem to always have a smile on their faces. And Beijing is such an interesting city, full of history like I have never seen before. The next picture is outside the Forbidden City. This city was built in 1406. That is before America was even officially discovered. It is amazing to walk through and touch the walls and the other architecture and know how old it is and how much it has seen. We spent a few hours here exploring and learning. I wish that you all could have been here.


The last picture is of us in Tiananmen Square. I couldn't get a good picture of the actual square because there were so many people, but in this picture you can see behind us the picture of Chairman Mao.

The only thing so far that has been a disappointment is the food. We were warned that we would be losing a lot of weight here and it seems, if today was any indication, that that is not going to be the case for me. I was hoping to go home a few pounds lighter! The food was delicious. They must have put at least 10 plates of food in the middle of the table and every plate was wonderful. How do the chinese people stay so small? Maybe it has to do with chopsticks and the size of the plates (a little smaller than our saucers at home). I totally ate with chopsticks!!! I am incredibly proud of myself. The girls and Mike have had this skill down for a while but today was my day to shine!

There is so much to tell that I don't know what to tell and what to leave out. There was our trip to the silk factory which was in itself an adventure. Did you know that the silkworms make a cacoon and that they boil the cacoon and stretch it out to the size of a quilt? This is true, I saw it with my own eyes and got to help stretch it with my own hands!!!!

I don't want to get too wordy or boring, but there is one other thing that I think is worth mentioning. The majority of people here live in apartments, really old apartments. As we were driving our guide pointed them out to us and told us that they were the expensive nice apartments. These apartments were huge old buildings with peeling paint. She said that people prefer the apartments to houses because the majority of houses in Beijing are "rectangle houses" where people have to use public toilets and showers. We rode in rickshaws (!) to go visit a homeowner in one of these houses. Talk about fascinating!! The guide rang the doorbell at a big door. I thought it was the door to a house but it turned out to be a door to a narrow, dark courtyard shared by numerous homeowners.

What an amazing day we had today! I can't possibly imagine tomorrow being any better. The only thing that would make this trip better is when we finally get Amy.... only 3 more days!!!

China!!!

We are here!!! We arrived in Beijing last night at 9:00pm after a long day of flying. The flights went well and they fed us a lot of good food, which we weren't expecting. We actually didn't arrive at our hotel until almost 11pm though.

We are a day and thousands of miles closer to our daughter!!! Today will be her last day of school here. What is she feeling? Oh, I so hope it is not total fear!

Today we will be going to Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and a Hutong Tour (whatever that is!!!). Then this evening we will see an acrobatics show. I will take lots of pictures and load them (actually, Megan will have to do this!) so that you can get an idea of what it is like here. We are getting ready to go down to an "American breakfast" in the hotel. We will stuff ourselves just in case we aren't able to eat much at lunch.

The above picture was actually taken in the Tokyo Airport. We were in Japan!!! We actually got to view our first squatty potty!!! I have to tell you that that was really exciting for us as we gathered in the public bathroom to look at it. I really wanted to ask someone how you would use it but thought better of that!!! I hope to find out and let you know.

More later!! ;)

Packing day

We spent the better part of today packing. I feel so much better! Now we can concentrate on bringing Amy Meng home. What we were going to try to pack into 2 suitcases turned into 5 suitcases and they are stuffed full. Much thanks to my wonderful neighbors who have lent me not only their luggage but also their scale to weigh them on!

We have been told that the beds in Zhengzhou are as hard as rocks and the secret is to persistently order blankets until you can stand them. We were also told that they are slightly bigger than twin beds and we get 4 of them for the 7 of us! One of our suitcases is packed with 2 air mattresses which we are assuming we will be able to fit into the room.

I keep wondering if Amy Meng knows that we are coming. I am hopeful that they will tell her before "gotcha day" so that she will have time say goodbye to all of her friends and nannies. I can only imagine how hard this is going to be for her leaving her second family to join her third family that she doesn't share a culture or a language with. It is easy for us because we have so much to gain, but for her it will take time for her to understand that we truly love her. Still, we are excited to begin this journey, to lavish her with love, to watch for her first smile, to listen for her first laugh, to cuddle up beside her and look at books... There are going to be so many firsts for us all to go through. How long will it be before she lets us do these things with her and for her? A day? A week? A year? Time will tell. I am ready to get started though. In 4 days we leave for China and in 9 days we will be with Amy. I can hardly wait!

To pack or not to pack, that is the question

I can't believe that we will be leaving in 8 days! These past 2 days have been filled with lists and more lists! We are trying to figure out what medicines to bring. We have bought cough medicine, cold medicine, sleep medicine, itch medicine.... the list goes on. The problem is that we are going for 16 days and are limited to 44 pounds in each suitcase. I think we have 40 pounds of medicine so far!! So much for clothing or warm coats. And now we have been told to bring plenty of snacks because "who knows what else the melamine is in". Oh my, there is so much to think about!

One of my many great blessings is Mike. He has been taking care of 99% (maybe more!) of the paperwork. I think that if I were doing it I wouldn't be sleeping at night. He surprised me the other day with some more paperwork "glitches" that had arisen, but wise man that he is, he waited until morning to tell me. However, we are determined to get through this part of it with a sense of humor, after all in 13 days we are going to be presented with our beautiful Amy and we can hardly wait. The payoff soooo outways any of these minor stresses and that has to be our focus right now, fortunately that is pretty easy.

Tomorrow we are off to CCAI to give them another cashiers check and to have conference call with the 6 other families that are going in our group. I am looking forward to the new friends and traveling companions that we are to share this journey with. I wonder what they'll be like. Will they be like Mike and I? Will they be bringing their kids? Will they even have kids? Maybe they will all have done this before. That could be good - they would be able to show us the ropes. Will any of them be from Colorado? Hmmmm. We'll see tomorrow.

Well, bedtime for me. I'll check in with you all later.

Bringing Home Amy Meng

In November of '05 we began our paperwork to adopt another child from China. Little did we know then that we were to be blessed with our 12 year old Amy Meng. We originally thought that we would be adopting a baby and that the process would take about a year and a half, but, as it turns out, those were our plans--not God's. He had bigger and better plans....literally!!!! When we spotted Amy Meng on the Waiting Child's website this summer, we knew that she belonged with us. And so our journey began...

We will be leaving for China on November 5th to expand our family, to become a family with 4 daughters and 1 son and we can hardly wait. There are many unknowns but there is also a lot that we do know. We know that God believes in adoption and we know how great that plan is because we know that he adopted us. As our friend Dani says, "if the Lord leads you to it, he'll be faithful to lead you through it." (thank you Dani)