Pictures from the last month

Here are some various pictures from June. Enjoy!

1 month later

I haven't written in a while- well it has pretty much been survival mode here at the Gray house. I wanted to give you all an update while I could. Olivia is doing so well. She had giardia (sp?) which is a parasite in the intestines. Most of the girls who came from her orphanage had this but it does cause intense discomfort in the stomach and bowels. I mentioned how little she was eating when we came home and this was probably the cause. Once we got her on medication for a couple of days she found her appetite. She was eating 13-15 ounces a day and now she is close to 30 with a couple of meals with solid food as well. It is so comforting to see her actually eating well. I hope to see her put on some weight soon. She has had a cold so I think that may have slowed her down but it is better now.

She is getting stronger everyday. She is bouncing like crazy, sitting up (most of the time) without assistance, pushing up with her arms and getting one leg under her moving toward crawling. It is hard to believe that she is the same little girl who couldn't hold her head up 6 weeks ago. She is smiling and interacting with people but defiantly likes to be in her Mom's arms while she meets new people. We have been slowly introducing her to people in our world and it is going very well. She loves her sister playing with her and singing silly songs. She is a little leery of her brother as he often has trouble with the gentle part of loving on her.

We have all been adjusting to life with 3 kids. It is a switch and yesterday as two kids were yelling and I was changing the other's poopy diaper I was thinking back to before kids and how peaceful life was. However, our life is so rich with laughter and love that it makes all of the hard moments possible. Pictures to follow.

Love, The Grays

News on the homefront

Well we have been back for over a week now so here I am with a new post. Olivia has been doing okay. She is not eating or sleeping well which has made it rough for me as Patrick continues to work nights. The past 2 nights she has come to bed with me so that at least I can rest when I am bouncing her. The hardest part is when the 2 others get up in the morning. Coffee has been my friend since Joshua was born and we have gotten closer since miss Olivia has arrived. We took her to the doctor on Friday and as part of routine check up with an internationally adopted child they did blood work and took a stool sample. Actually these things were ordered and I had to go to the hospital to get it done. The blood sample was quite something. First I forgot to go on Friday when my two older kids were not with me so we had to go on Saturday- without Patrick because it was the middle of the day and that is when he sleeps. So I want you all to have this picture in your head- Olivia is in the front carrier, Joshua is in the stroller and Cambria is walking beside. Can't you just imagine what was going through the hospital workers' minds when I come up and tell them that the littlest one needs to have a blood sample taken. Anyway, because she is so small the most they can take from her is 5ml which is exactly the amount that they need to complete all the tests the doctor has ordered. If anything needs to be redone we will have to go back. They spent 15 mins trying to find a vein in her arm or leg to draw from but to no avail. Finally they took it from her hand with me pinning her down and two people holding her arms. After we were done they gave me the cup for the stool sample and said it had to come back with in 24 hours of "deposit". So Sunday we collected and this morning we took the sample back. This afternoon they called and said that she has girardia (sp?). This is an intestinal bug which is very uncomfortable. This is probably the reason that she doesn't eat and sleep well. We have medicine and hope to be done with this nastiness in 10 days or less. We had thought that she had acid reflux, however, now we are wondering if that is correct or if everything has been this parasite in her. Time will only tell but I am looking forward to some sleep.

On another front- Cambria and Joshua are adjusting very well to their sister. Joshua forgets that he is twice her size and I have looked up to see him sitting on her as well as laying on her to give her a hug. He is very sweet- he even says "hug" as he is doing it. I have been working with him on this. Cambria would really like her to be old enough to play with now- but enjoys loving on her.

Olivia's favorite thing is the Johnny Jump Up. She bounces with gusto. She is getting better at sitting up on her own but is in no way ready to do it without help. Maybe when she feels better.

I will attach pictures for you to enjoy- these are some more from China.

Love, all of the Grays

Pictures finally!

These are pictures of miss Olivia while we were in China.

This is the day we got her.

Friday, May 28

Today we had our "red couch pictures". This is a tradition with all babies adopted from China. In the lobby of the hotel that we are staying at there are many red couches. Everyone in our travel group met and we took family pictures, pictures of just the babies and then pictures of everyone together. There were several Chinese people who stopped to look at us as we were doing this. It was quite comical. After the red couch pictures we talked about going home and how that was going t work. Some of the people in our group left tonight and went to Hong Kong. If I knew that was an option we might have done that to break up the very long trip that we are about to embark on. We left to pack our things- harder than we thought- we bought more than we knew but after some creative packing we have gotten it all in the suitcases that we came with. We still have the last minute things but we will work it out. We picked up our final paperwork for Olivia to enter the country this afternoon. It was a joy but I wasn't as relieved as I thought I would be. I think I need to get through customs with Olivia before it will happen. We went to dinner at the Thai place- again..... We will be glad for more choices when we get home- no Chinese or Thai for quite a while at the Gray house. I can't remember if I have told you about the Pearl River that surrounds this island. It is gross and when I say gross I really mean it. think of the chocolate river in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It is that color and has garbage floating in it everywhere! We have see several people swimming in it- I think we would turn green if we tried that!!!! Our guide told us that it has actually gotten much better in the 8 years he has lived here. He said it used to smell all the time- now it only does in the summer. I guess that is improvement. That is the beautiful scene outside our window. The best part of today is that WE GET TO COME HOME TOMORROW!! We get up and leave the hotel by 8am. We fly to Hong Kong- wait 4 hours, fly to LA- wait 4 hours, fly to Boise!!! We hope to see some of you there! It will be so nice to see friends and family again!!! This is our last post- thank you for following our journey. There will be more to come when we get home and settled.
Love to all,
Patrick, Donna, and Olivia

Thursday, May 27

Today was a fun day. We took Olivia down to the pool for swimming. I think it must have been too cold for her because she liked it for a few minutes but not much more than that. As Olivia and I were resting Patrick went to the electronics wholesale market that is just a 10 minute walk from here. He said that it is incredible- all the electronic things you could want are sold there- and made there. It was the boy equivalent to the pearl market for the girls. I am glad I didn't go with him- I probably would have been bored to tears! When he got back we had to wake Olivia up so that we could go to the US Consulate here in Guangzhou. We basically said yes, this is us and yes, everything we have told you is true to the best of our knowledge. This is when the US completes our paperwork and as far as our end is concerned we are done!!!!!! The US government acknowledges that we have adopted her! HOORRAAYYYYYY! Everything went very well. This took awhile because there were 40 families adopting and taking the oath. We are not allowed to even have cameras in the building so we don't have photographic evidence of this event. We then got back on the bus and went back to the hotel. Our whole group went to a celebration dinner at the Chinese restaurant that we went to a couple of nights ago. It was yummy. Then several of the families had a prayer time as some of our group is leaving tomorrow and this was our last social time together. We went to the tea shop and made our purchases after several times visiting. We are finding that although it seems like we have been here forever we are running out of unscheduled time. We just have a couple of things to pick up tomorrow. Something I don't remember if I have mentioned are the beds here. They are soooo hard- like the firmest mattress then a little bit harder. Not very comfortable at all! My back is so looking forward to the nice beds at home.

Tomorrow is our last full day here. We are counting the hours.
Our flight gets into Boise on Sat night at 9:05pm on Alaska airlines from LA. If anyone would like to come and see Olivia in person they are welcome.
Love to all,
Patrick, Donna, and Olivia

Wednesday, May 26

Today was a quiet day. It was nice to sleep in after the big day yesterday. OK- by sleep in I mean 7:30. I went to workout in their nice gym and then we headed down to breakfast. We had to be in our rooms from 10:30-12:30 today because our guide took all of our paperwork to the US consulate for the baby's visa and immigration papers. If there were any questions we needed to be available to take them. We got a call at 12:15 saying that everything looked great. We went out for a little bit and met the family that we flew over to Hong Kong with. They are with our same adoption agency but their baby was in a different part of the country so we have not seen them since. It was nice to chat with them and to meet their baby. We came back and put Olivia down to nap and we watched a movie. After that we went to the pool. One thing that we are learning is that many of the babies are afraid of the water. Today Patrick got in but we just sat on the edge with Olivia and put her toes in. Tomorrow we will try actually getting her all the way wet. We came back and then met the same family for dinner at the Thai place. It was good as always. Our friends are leaving tomorrow morning and I am having a hard time not being jealous.
Only 3 more nights before we start our journey home! We can't wait.
Love,
Patrick, Donna, and Olivia

Tuesday, May 25

Our Internet has been down for about 24 hours so I couldn't post this as I have been. Sorry!

We went to the orphanage today and what an experience that was. The closest thing I can liken it to is a concentration camp. We began our day at 8am- we were on the bus and started our 3 1/2 drive to the town of Yangxi, China. First let me tell you that this drive was interesting because there aren't seat belts on the bus and we just held our babies for the whole time. I kept praying for no accidents on the trip because we would all be seriously hurt. It was probably easier for the babies because they got to move around and be held because they weren't strapped in- but our nerves were a bit shot after that! We got to see quite a bit of country side on the drive. This is very tropical so the best I can compare it to is the Caribbean area. The dirt is red- like down south and everywhere are tall trees with hardly any branches until you get to the top where there is a puff of leaves. It was quite interesting. We saw poor parts where they lived in shacks and grew rice. We saw duck farms and trucks carrying dead (and a few live) chickens, baby pigs, and adult pigs- we can only guess that they were being driven to a slaughter house. It was quite interesting. The traffic is incredible. At one point there were 4 vehicles wide on a street meant for 2. If there are lines on the road they don't mean anything because often the people will drive so they are in 2 lanes. It is very weird and disconcerting. We got to the orphanage at 11:30. We got out of the bus and all we heard were crying babies. The orphanage director and vice-director met us and lead us into a reception area. Before we sat down and talked to them we walked around the courtyard of the orphanage which was filled with potted trees, a little bit of grass, a few pieces of playground equipment and lots of weeds. The reception area had a fancy table and chairs and on one wall hung pictures of families with their babies from the orphanage- that was neat to see. We sat down and the director greeted us. They gave us leches which is a local fruit that have a similar taste and texture to grapes but they are much bigger and have a pit in the center. We were expected to eat them- we all did but I did not care for mine. We only asked a few questions at this point and then were told that they would take us to see one of the baby rooms. Patrick and I did not want to take Olivia back to the room for fear that she would think she was being left there. We went up one at a time. When you walk into this room sadness fills you. It was nap time and all of the babies were in their cribs- about 20. The cribs were lined with planks of wood- nothing else- no blanket or anything. Some were sleeping but most were just in there rolling around. Some of these babies had been matched to families waiting to come and get them but most were not matched. There is one nanny in this room- 20 babies between the ages of 6 months to 1 year and 1 nanny. That was heart breaking. This is not the room where Olivia stayed. She was in a room upstairs that is for babies 0-6 months. I think they left her there because she had already been matched. All I have to say is that this is one county in China- that had about 90 kids in it- each county has their own orphanage- there are many babies in China waiting to find families to love them. The temptation was strong to pick 2-3 up and say let us take them home- I promise we will find good homes for them. Patrick and another man in our group went around and prayed (quietly) over each baby that we saw- We know that God is good all the time- sometimes when faced with a situation like this it is hard to see the good. After we had seen the room (we could only take a picture of an empty crib- no babies in the picture) we went back down stairs to talk to the director more. I asked what the process was when they found a baby. When the baby is found the person who find it calls the police. the police come and look for the parents for about 2 hours with the baby. Then the orphanage is called and they come get the baby from the police station. The baby is brought to the orphanage for temporary care. The police put a finding ad in the newspaper to look for the parents. the parents have 2 weeks to claim their baby. At the end of the 2 weeks the baby is officially put under the care of the orphanage. This is when they do a medical exam and register her. All people in china have to be registered with the government. Then the orphanage gathers the necessary paperwork to send to CCAA which is the adoption center for the Chinese government. This takes about 4 months to do all of this. Then the baby is set to be matched with a family who is waiting. I asked how often parents have come forward to claim the baby after they have abandoned it and they said never- they have never seen or heard of a baby being claimed. this makes sense because it is illegal to abandon a baby here. Not all the kids who are at the orphanage are up for adoption. The serious medical or mental issues are not even given to CCAA. A child with Downs or very low IQ are not eligible for adoption. They will spend all of their growing up years in the orphanage until they are put out when they are 18 (I think that is the correct age). This was hard to hear as well. We then got back on the bus and we drove around to each of the girls' finding spots. Olivia was found outside of a cell phone store in a very hard part of town. It is dirty and loud. If you are in Boise- think of the worst part of Garden City- if you are in Seattle, think of the worst part of Lake City Way. It was very hard to go there but I am so glad that we did- I think it is important for Olivia later in her life to know about this part of her life. After the finding spots we went to lunch at a place called MFC- which is just like KFC in the states. Our guess is that the M stands for Mandarin. It wasn't bad. I had to use the squatty potty for the first time and if you don't know what that is - it is just as it sounds. You squat and hope you don't pee on your pants. Not a glamorous experience but you don't always have a choice in these matters. In the town of Yangxi we got quite a few stares. In Guangzhou it is not unusual to see many white couples with Chinese babies. We are the minority but not strange. In Yangxi we had many people stop and point- taking pictures and so forth. We kind of felt like animals at the zoo. I am glad we had that experience as well but it was strange to say the least. We got back on the bus and headed for home. We were all exhausted and ready to be back at the hotel. We finally got back to the hotel at about 6:15. We pretty much just went to our room and stayed for the rest of the night. Whew- this was a long post. I hope you enjoyed hearing about our experience!
Lots of love,
Patrick, Donna, and Olivia

Monday, May 24

Today we went to the zoo! I know that I am kind of a dork but I really love zoos. It was a large zoo with many large animals. We saw 4 different kinds of tigers including a white tiger. They were front and center in the zoo- because it is the year of the tiger. We saw lions- including a white lion. We saw giraffes, several different kinds of bears- including a panda bear, rhinos, hippos, and many others. The habitats here are not that great, and while that is sad for the animals is does mean that we got to see them up close! We did not see the whole zoo but many different parts. Everywhere we go off of this island we are kind of a spectacle- 7 white families with Chinese babies. It is very common for people to stop and stare at us. It makes me wonder how well known throughout China about the amount of adoptions that are taken place internationally. Just a thought.
After the zoo we came back to the hotel and Olivia slept. It was a nice short nap but at least she slept. Today was the first day that Olivia was grumpy. This morning if I wasn't holding her she was crying and that hasn't happened even when she was sick. I don't think that she slept very well last night and she didn't eat well this morning. She is working through some constipation issues so when you put all those things together it was a rough morning. After her first nap at the zoo and her 10:30 bottle she was doing much better.
We went to dinner and chatted with some new friends here and then have come home to go to bed.
Tomorrow is a big day- we get to go to the orphanage where Olivia has been for the past 7 months. It is 3 1/2 hours away so it will be a long day but very worth it. We will also get to see her finding spot...the place that she was left when she was 1 day old. We won't get to take pictures inside the orphanage but we will get to see where she lived and spent time. I expect this will be an emotional day for all. We will not take Olivia to see these rooms as we think it might confuse or upset her. She will stay outside while we go in one at a time.
Please pray that this day will come together well and not be too hard emotionally. I have a hard time thinking of my precious baby girl being left outside a store on her first day of life. But for her in the future I think this is very important that we go see all that we can.
Love to all!
Patrick, Donna, and Olivia

Sunday, May 23

Today we had a very nice day. The temperature was pleasant and the humidity was completely bearable. We were outside a bunch because it wasn't uncomfortable. What a nice change! This morning we went to the pearl market. I had in my head a bunch of tents or something- very wholesale. It was completely the opposite. The pearl market is just a bunch of jewelry shops in a mall- a very big mall. They specialize in pearls and their prices are very low compared to the US. The whole mall was jewelry shops- it was about 5 stories high and probably 75 stores on each level- all jewelry. The mall was in a different part of Guangzhou that we have not been to yet. It was very modern and extremely busy. We had to go through one mall- that was just a regular mall like the US to get to the jewelry mall. The regular mall was also 5 stories high with about 75 stores per level. It was incredible. One difference between stores in the US and stores here is the fact that it does not seem as though they have a back room to organize and get their supplies ready for the store- they just do it out front of the shop so every shop looks like they are just moving in or just moving out. Another difference between stores is the number of employees that work in the stores. The stores are small- even the big ones are like our hotel room. They often have 5-6 employees in each store. Today at the pearl store we did our shopping in there were 8 employees working plus the man who ran the cashier. It is like this everywhere. I counted at another store 11 employees and 1 customer. So when you walk into a store they just follow you around and wait until you ask a question. What a difference from home, right? After our shopping we had a new experience of getting a cab here--by ourselves. Our guide was with some other people who went back earlier than we did. We have a card that tells the name and address of our hotel in mandarin so they know where to take us. Before we got in the cab we had to wait for them to say yes I will take you there. The first cab we tried said no...HMMMM. The second took us to the hotel and didn't even rip us off. For a 5 mile ride it was 10 yuan- which is about 1.50 US. That is a pretty good deal! There was a McDonalds (actually 2), a KFC, and a Papa Johns in the courtyard area of this mall- but we chose not to partake. The people from our group that did said it tasted just like home- a good reason to not eat there if you ask me. We are really enjoying the food. There have only been a couple of things that we really didn't like and they were in Hong Kong. I am glad we have our guide to steer us in a good direction on food. When we got home Olivia who slept for about 20 mins at the end of our adventure decided that she didn't want to sleep. So after 1 hour of trying we just went outside to enjoy the day in the beautiful weather. We got some shopping done and that was nice. We ate dinner at Lucy's which I think used to be called the American Cafe and it was good as always. After dinner we went to have some tea with one of the shop owners here named Dong. He has taught us much about tea in China and given us many samples of the yummy stuff. There are so many Chinese people- families not business men- on the island this weekend. We are wondering if it is a holiday tomorrow because they look like they are on vacation- cameras in hand and sight seeing. It is incredibly busy and we are not used to that. Maybe tomorrow it will calm down a little.
Love to all,
Donna, Patrick, and Olivia

Saturday, 5/22

Today we had a very quiet day. We woke up and I went to work out- there is a very nice facility here- it would be much better if it were air conditioned or had a fan moving air- but it is still very nice. We went down to breakfast and it seemed as though there were hundreds of new people in the restaurant. It turns out that there is a big convention in the hotel this weekend and also the other people from our adoption agency (CCAI) have arrived from their province last night so there were about 30 more families with babies in the hotel. It was kind of fun to see new faces. I had a meeting to fill out the last of the paperwork for Olivia to gain a visa and passport as well as citizenship when she gets into the US. One of the good things about adopting from China is that when we get home she is ours completely (we don't have to adopt her again in the US) and she is a US citizen. We paid our last big fee here and then we had the rest of the day to ourselves. Patrick, Olivia, and I went out to look at a couple of shops that we had not seen yet but after the first one Olivia fell asleep so we went back to the hotel. she slept for 3 1/2 hours- WOW! She sleeps with her eyes a little bit open. Cambria does this every once in awhile but Olivia does it every time she goes to sleep. It is not until she is in a deep sleep that her eyes shut all the way. After 1 hour she was restless- so I picked her up and I read my book while she slept. She slept that way for the next 2 1/2 hours- it was a very special time for me to love on her. **To the Hartley family if you are reading this: When Olivia smiles she looks like Mikayla- I noticed it first thing when we met her but I have forgotten to tell you this. It made me think of you all!**After this we went down to the playroom on the bottom floor of our hotel. It is a great room for the kids to play in. Olivia is not big enough or strong enough for most of the toys but she likes looking at them. We went to dinner at a local Chinese restaurant which was very good. I am glad our guide was there because he ordered for us and we ate family style. We got to try lots of yummy stuff. We came back to the hotel and put Olivia to bed. It was nice to have a quiet day. We are having a good time but are very happy to know that we now have less than a week left of our trip. Next week at this time we will be on an airplane home. YEA!
Lots of love,
Patrick, Donna, and Olivia

Friday Night, 5/21

Today we had a very busy morning. We went on a tour of several places here in Guangzhou. it was very interesting to learn about this city and the province. For example: Guangzhou is in the Guangdong province of China. It is the 3rd biggest province with approx. 70 million people living here. The city of Guangzhou is the 4th largest city in China with 11 million people. It's history goes back 2400 years. We went to a Buddhist temple today and it was packed!!! Apparently it is the birthday of one of the most famous Buddhas. This is the Buddha of health so there were so many people paying respects or honoring him. There was incense burning so thickly that in some places it was hard to breathe. The temple is called the temple of the 6 trees in reference to the 6 banyan trees that were growing outside of the temple 1200 years ago when the original one was built. the trees are gone now and 2 "new" trees were planted 175 years ago. We were a very big attraction at the temple with many people coming up and touching our babies and just staring. They would walk up to us and stand about 2 feet away from us and stare- this is very unnerving. The Buddhas were statues in gold about 30 feet high and were quite impressive. there are 15 most important Buddhas- 1 of those being a woman who is to protect pregnant women and children. It was very interesting and both Patrick and I were struck by the reverence that the people had when worshipping. They hold their beliefs as dear and as sacred as we hold ours and that is touching to watch- even if we don't agree with what they believe.
From the temple we went to an open air museum. I think that I have forgotten to mention the weather today. The temp was not bad- about 80 degrees. The humidity was 95%- This is the most unbearable weather I have ever been in. I would much rather be in Idaho where it is dry on a 100 degree day than what it was like today. The moment we stepped off the bus we were immediately covered in sweat. Our poor babies all had sweat running down their faces because they were in the carriers- it is best to have them close when in a crowd. The museum was so interesting but I am a little embarrassed to admit that we mostly stayed in front of the few fans that we saw. We saw some beautiful tapestries and wood carvings as well as some beautiful pottery and art work. There was a man making the most amazing pictures using only ink and his hand. It was incredible but it was very hard to enjoy that with sweat running down your back and legs. I wish we could come back on a different day. We did learn that only very privileged families are allowed to have a statue of a lion out front of their house. Also a government building- but when I asked our guide what would happen if his family just decided to put a statue of a lion out front of their house he just looked at me like I was crazy and said it is not possible, it is not allowed.
From here we went to a provincial government store- it is like a really nice department store. They had clothes, pottery, artwork, jade, tea sets, and many other high quality things. Our guide told us that unlike what we find on this island these items are the top quality and from the Guangdong province. We bought some fun stuff. This store was air conditioned. It was glorious.
We got back to the hotel and gave Olivia a nap and it was time for dinner. Olivia was a trooper. She really is feeling 100% better. She is laughing and happy again. She makes a very funny high pitched squealing noise- it is so cute. She ate well today!!!
We went back to the Thai restaurant today for dinner. We had a strange experience. A young couple were seated next to us when we were about 1/2 way through our meal and the woman was staring at Olivia- really staring in a creepy way- for a long time. I felt like holding onto Olivia a little tighter because she seemed like she could grab her and run. After they ordered she pulled out her phone and I think she was taking pictures of Olivia. then the man started staring and they were speaking in Chinese. It was the most uncomfortable we have been and We very quickly got our bill and left. One of the other moms here and I were talking later and we said that we wondered how many women on the street were staring because they had to give up their baby girl. It gave me a moment to put myself in their shoes- that would be hard to see all these families walking around and very happy with babies in their arms knowing that one of them could be your biological child.
Sorry for the long post- it was quite a day. Tomorrow is much more quiet. Hope all is well where you are!
With much love,
Donna, Patrick and Olivia

Friday Morning, 5/21

Hooray! Olivia had a great night of restful sleep. She woke up once to eat but that was it. She is still sleeping as I type this. When she woke up she was giggling- not crying. I think she has turned the corner. No fever at all! More blogging later...

Thursday, May 20

This has been a very hard day. Olivia is sick- at one point with a 103.5 fever and she was throwing up. Her fever has come and gone all day and the throwing up has stopped for now. Here is the whole story. She had a restless night of sleep and woke up as though in a fog. She wouldn't eat much this morning but that is normal for her so we didn't worry about it too much. she was very spacey at breakfast and really not acting like herself. We walked around this morning for an hour or so and she dozed in the carrier. When we got back we tried to feed her again but she wouldn't eat. It was time for her antibiotic so we gave it to her and then she started throwing up. We had a meeting this afternoon and she threw up right as we met up with our group to go. The meeting was a doctor's appointment for the US government so that they will let her in to the country- this is a big deal. we cleaned up and went. they said that she did not have and ear infection or a throat infection that the hotel doctor said she did. They said she had drainage in her throat which we expect because she has a cold. We said OK and she passed the physical part Hooray! She had a fever but since they took it under her armpit- and they only left it there for about 10 seconds it didn't show up. I am so thankful. When we came back to the hotel she was hungry but still wouldn't eat. We waited and finally at about 6:00 she ate 3 ounces. We gave her Tylenol at 6:30 and then at 7:30 she ate about 5 ounces. The Tylenol has brought down her fever and she is more comfortable. We have decided to stop giving her the antibiotic because when Patrick was doing research on it he discovered that it is a very powerful one- they use it for MERSA. She has never had any drugs before so her little system is just over loaded. I am going to call my doctor in the US in the morning and talk to him about it but we both feel very comfortable with this decision. Please pray that she continues to improve tonight and that it is a restful sleep. I don't want to be up in the middle of the night dealing with throw up in a hotel room.
On a much lighter note I wanted to tell you about dinner last night. We went to a Thai place (I think I mentioned it in yesterday's post) and one of the people in our group ordered 1/2 a chicken. It came to him- exactly 1/2 a chicken. This included 1/2 the head, body and 1 leg and foot. It was the grossest thing I have seen in a long time. He ate it and said that it didn't taste too badly.
I don't think that i have mentioned that Patrick and I call this place Disneyland. It is a very odd mix of poor people and places mixed with beautiful facades of buildings with utter disrepair and a horrific smell coming from them. About 1/2 the roads are beautiful with stunning flower beds all around and the other 1/2 are so torn up that you can't even walk on them much less drive. There are so many people who come to China to adopt and they all end up here at the end of their trip so everywhere you look on this island there are white parents with a Chinese child. We chat as though we are old friends- it is almost like orientation weekend at college (Where are you from, what do you do, how old is your child). Then there are the locals who are very poor and make their money off of us. They follow us around asking us to shop at their store which has the exact same stuff as the other 30 stores like it on the island. They follow us around the store and ask us what we are going to buy. One person so wanted to sell something to me today that he went on and on about how Olivia and I look alike. I was thinking- Yea, we're twins! It is an interesting mix!!
We are at day 7 of being here and we are really missing our life at home. We would appreciate prayers as we have 9 more before we get to go see our other kids.
Tons of love and hugs!
Donna, Patrick and Olivia

Wednesday, May 19

It rained today- really rained- sheets of rain from about 10:30-present. Talk about a bummer. We just really stayed in the hotel as much as possible because it was pouring so hard. Tomorrow it is going to rain again. The only thing good about this is that when we went to a Thai food restaurant for dinner the humidity was not quite so unbearable. Dinner was good- it was a very nice place. We went out as a group which we don't do that often so it was fun. There are 7 families that are in our travel group. All of our babies are from the same orphanage and are within 2 months of each other. The only official thing that we did today was go to the police station to get Olivia's passport picture taken. It went very quickly with each family only taking about 2 mins each but the bus ride down there was about 20 mins and the bus ride home was about 40 mins. There is no drainage system here for this much rain. It was just standing on the road a couple of inches high in some places so the drive home was interesting. Last week there was a record amount of rain that fell here so they are tired of the rain as well. Miss Olivia is smiling and happy but she has been really pulling at her ear and her eyes have been getting red and blotchy so we took her to the doctor that is here in the hotel. She has an ear infection and a throat infection. We got 3 antibiotics and saw the doctor. We paid about $30 for all of that- wow- not bad. This explains why she got up twice during the night and did not want to be put down. We had our guide with us so that he could translate. I am so glad that we went with the adoption agency that we did so that we could have a guide with us the whole time. It saves a bunch of head aches. We are hoping that Olivia sleeps better tonight so that we can too!Love to all,
Patrick and Donna

Tuesday, May 18

It has been a busy couple of days for us. Today we went back to the same building where we got Olivia yesterday and met with a notary and a registration official. They asked us the same questions- why did we want to adopt from china, what is our age and occupation, do we like our child, and will we promise to never abuse or abandon her? Then we gave them a gift and they signed our papers. We also had an official family photo taken and that was that. It took about 2 hours for all of this to get done for the families in our group. After we did this we went to a store which they describe as the WalMart in China- for those of you in Idaho it was very similar to a King's store but with more food. Here we got formula, diapers, water, and anything else we needed. It was chaotic but we got what we needed and got out of there. I don't think I have mentioned the Starbucks here. They are everywhere- in Hong Kong there were at least 5 within 2 blocks of or hotel. I was beginning to feel like I was in Seattle. Here in Guangzhou they are a little more rare- I have only seen about 4 with all of our driving around. I went to one after the store today and the girl behind the counter was so excited to practice her English that I stayed for a few extra minutes to let her talk. The only thing they have more of than Starbucks are 7-eleven's. There are 2 on this island which is less than a mile long and less than a half of a mile wide. It is really weird. The stores here are very small- not much bigger than our master bathroom in our house and the shopkeeper is usually sitting out front just looking (probably smoking too) and waiting for a customer to come in. It looks like a very boring job- but any job is good here I think. We had some friends recommend an Italian place here on the island and we were going to try it for dinner. We were both very disappointed that it has closed down so we went to the same place that we ate on our first night here. I had a hamburger- which was more like meatloaf- and Patrick had a Chinese chicken dish which was spicy and very good he said. We walked around the island which is under major construction for the Asian Games which are being held here in Oct. It is a very big deal here and almost everything is torn up for this. It seems like they have a lot of work to do before they get done. Olivia is doing very well. She spent quite a bit of time in the front carrier today. She slept and people watched. I have to remind myself that she has only been in the orphanage her whole life so riding in the bus and going to buildings with lots of people are very new to her. She does well as long as she is close to me. The locals want to touch her because her skin is so light. It is kind of odd how they all comment on it- I don't know if it is a good thing to them or not. I just really don't want them to touch her. I wouldn't go up to a stranger's baby and touch her- I might smile and talk to her but not touch. Hmmmm... I will have to think of a way to get this to stop. Love to all and here is hoping for another wonderful night of sleep!
Donna and Patrick

We have her! Yippee!

Hello all, it has been a very busy day! We went to a meeting in the morning and then at 2:30 we left on a bus to the civil affairs office in downtown Guangzhou. Guangzhou is a city of 13 million people so it is huge! We are staying in a very nice section of town. It was an interesting ride to the office but only about 15 mins long. Our babies had left the orphanage at 8:30am for the bus ride and play time at the office. They have never been out of the orphanage so this was a big day for them. It is only about a 3 1/2 hour ride to the city so I really don't know what they did after they got there. We walked into a big room where a large group of families were there with their babies that they had obviously just been matched with. There were lots of crying babies. I didn't expect to see other families. It was loud and hot. We were told that we would see our babies very soon. About 5 mins later the elevator doors opened and we saw 3 ladies with 2 babies in their arms. I immediately recognized Olivia from her picture but we were told that we could absolutely not go up to them we needed to wait to be presented our child. They went into a back room and about 3 mins later they brought them out one by one, verified each family that went with each baby and we were handed our sweet girl. This was nice because we got pictures of this event while we didn't think that anyone would be able to take them for us. We had about 10 mins of get to know you time before we got to talk to the nannies to ask specific questions about our child. Olivia has a rash on the back of her head, neck, and on her upper arms. The nanny said that this is because she likes to rub her head on the board in her crib. The rash on her neck was heat related because it went away after we got out of the very hot, not air conditioned building. The rash on her arm looks like ring worm so we are treating it as such. We asked if there was anything she particularly liked- they said toys that made music. We asked if there was anything that she didn't like and they said that they haven't found anything yet.
After spending several hours with her tonight at our hotel we can tell you that she love to babble, smile and has an easy laugh. She looks around like "Hey, wait a minute, where am I?" but then she seems to think "Oh well, I like this place and these people." We gave her a bath and she was fine with that and as I type she is sleeping peacefully. Let us pray that this night goes well! I will try to add a picture for you all to see!
Tons of love and rejoicing tonight!
Donna and Patrick

Hello friends and family, as I write this it is Sunday evening and I am trying desperately to stay awake at 7:30pm. The time change thing has been harder than I remember it being the last time I was in Europe. Last night I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore at 6:00pm but I was up for the day at 3am. I am working on it- Patrick is doing much better than I am because he was already on this schedule at home. Our flight over was good- uneventful except for the fact that apparently after 22 hours of travel my body decided that motion sickness was the way to go and I spent the last part of the long flight and the bus ride into Hong Kong throwing up. Fun for me and all the people around me. We got in at 6:30- dusk and by the time we had gotten our luggage and cleared customs it was 7:30-dark. The ride into town was busy and bright but didn't really give us a good idea of what the city was like. We got to our hotel called the Regal Kowloon which was very nice and our rep (who met us at the airport) checked us in and we got to go to bed. This was great because we only got a couple hours on the plane ride.

We decided just to let our bodies sleep and we slept until 8:30 the next morning (Sat) and that meant that we did not go on the guided tour of Hong Kong with the other families in our group. This was really ok with me because my stomach was still not 100%. We walked around the water front on what they call the Avenue of the Stars and enjoyed the breeze. It wasn't that warm but it was very humid. In talking to some people they told us that all of the museums were free that day. Patrick and I took in the Space, Art, History, and Science museums and walked around the streets a ton. Needless to say we were both very tired and went back to the hotel. We ate a very overpriced meal at our hotel that wasn't very good and then went to bed.
Sunday we got up and packed to leave Hong Kong. We left with the other people in our group (7 families all together) on a bus for the 3 hour drive north to Guangzhou. This is the capitol of the province. We left Hong Kong and had to go through customs again to enter main land China. This was very uneventful but nice to get behind us. We had more time to look at the country side and the hugeness of the cities. We arrived at our hotel (The White Swan- look it up if you get bored- it is very nice) and were passed off from the rep we had in Hong Kong to the one who will be staying with us here for the rest of the time. We got our room assignments and unpacked before we walked around this part of Guangzhou called Shawmain Island. The Pearl River goes on each side of it and it is a little like Disneyland- not a good representation of the real China but fun to visit. We had a tasty dinner outside which is great because it was at least 90% humidity and over 80 degrees. We are sticky all the time. It is fun to see all the people with their children they are adopting.
Tomorrow we get Olivia at around 3:30pm which is 1:30am for those in Idaho. We are very excited! It became a little more real when we walked into the hotel room and there was a crib set up for her. I will post more tomorrow.
Thanks for all the prayers- keep them up please!
Love,Patrick and Donna

Leaving on Thursday

Well here we go! Tomorrow we will take the kids to their grandparents house in preparation for our very early flight on Thursday morning. We will fly to Portland- 3 hour lay over- then to Vancouver, BC- 4 hour layover- then to Hong Kong. We will arrive on Friday evening- local time. It will take us almost 23 hours to get there. This would stress me out if we were taking our kids but it seems very doable without them. We will go through all of the customs and hoopla in Hong Kong and hopefully get to our hotel by 10pm local time so we can sleep. A guide from our adoption agency will meet us outside customs to help us navigate all of this. It will be a much different experience for us than our other international travel where we could figure some of the language out- we will truly be at their mercy. We will spend Sat. getting accustomed to local time and maybe go on a tour of Hong Kong- this will be very interesting I think. On Sun. we board a bus to go to Guangzhou- over 3 hours driving in China (I am a little scared of this part). We will get there in the afternoon and check into the hotel that we will be staying at for the rest of our trip.

We will get Olivia on Monday afternoon- that is the middle of the night here in the states. The best way to think of the time is flip am and pm and add 2 hours (mountain time) so if it is 9pm Tues. night here it is 9am +2 hours= 11 am on Wed morning in China. (Well at least where we will be) From this point we have a few meetings here and there but it is mostly waiting for different government agencies to do their job. So we will get out as much as possible and go see things in Guangzhou (population approx 6 million). There is supposed to be a wonderful wild animal park that I would love to see!

Our current concern is leaving our children tomorrow night. They are both very emotional and needy right now- as you can imagine. I feel emotional and needy too! We are doing lots of cuddles and loves right now but there is just no getting around the fact that we won't get to put our kids to bed for 17 nights. My head knows in the big picture this is not much time at all, and that God loves them more that I can possibly imagine and He has their best interest at heart including their emotional needs, but my heart is having a hard time with this.

Prayer requests:

1. Peace for us as we leave our kids.

2. God to watch over them and comfort them while we can't put His love into words for them.

3. Travel mercies for us.

4. Both Patrick and I are fighting a cold- we need to be well for this trip.

5. Olivia's emotional state as she prepares to leave everything that is familiar to her.

We will not be able to access any social networking- no facebook or blogs- while we are in China. We will be sending an email to a friend each day so that she can update our blog but we will not be able to read comments until we get back. If you need (or want) to get ahold of us while we are gone please email us- we will be checking this everyday. Our first update will probably not be until Saturday.

We love you all- thanks for joining us on this journey!

Patrick and Donna

We are going to China

We have our travel dates! Thursday, May 13 (Yes, that is two weeks from tomorrow for those of you counting.) at 6am we will be leaving Boise to arrive in Hong Kong 23 hours later. We will stay in Hong Kong for a couple nights to sight see and adjust to the time change. We will go to Guangzhou on Sunday evening. Monday we will finally get to hold our daughter in our arms!!!! They will bring the children to the hotel we are staying at- in China we don't go to the orphanage to get her. We will stay at the hotel with Olivia for the next couple of weeks as paperwork is being processed in various government agencies. We will arrive home in Boise in the evening of Sunday, May 29th.

We are so very excited about this time and adventure, however, here in the middle of the rush to get everything ready it is very stressful. We are getting things settled for our absences at our jobs, getting Cambria and Joshua ready to spend two weeks at Grandma and Grandpa's house, getting the things together that we need for Olivia in China and when she comes home, getting ourselves ready for the trip, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork, and trying to spend some time with Cambria and Joshua so that they don't feel abandoned right now! Please pray that all of this happens well and that we don't forget anything major!!!!

We got some updated info about Olivia today- at 6 months she weighed 12.6 lbs, and she is 24 inches long. She is sitting up with assistance and does not have any teeth. Just a side note- if you don't know Cambria, Joshua, and myself really struggle with excema. One of the notes that the orphanage workers put on her papers was that she struggles with it also- she is made for our family :) I am going to post the new pictures of her that we have.

Thanks for all of the prayers and support- we could do this without our loved ones!

Patrick and Donna

We are going to China

Tentative travel days

We got a call today saying that we will probably travel on May 13- May 29th. We will fly into Hong Kong and stay there for about 3 days, adjust to the time change and then go to Guangzhou which is the capitol of the province. We will get Olivia on Monday, May 17th when she will be brought to Guangzhou. AHHHH! This makes me so excited that we have a date that we will finally hold her in our arms. All of this is contingent on receiving a US consulate appointment and that being confirmed during this time frame. The US consulate is where we will take our oath- when we officially have adopted her. I will keep you all updated!

Donna

P.S. We are waiting on our Chinese visas to come back- please pray that this will come soon!

Picture of Oliva Zi Hong Gray

Here is our beautiful girl!!! This is at 4 months of age.

WE HAVE OUR BABY!!!

Today at 11:00, as I was in the middle of teaching a reading lesson, my phone rang. It was our adoption agency, CCAI, calling saying "Congratulations, it's a girl!" I ran from my room to the office and got someone to cover my class so I could hear all about her. Here are the details that I know so far:

Name: Zi (pronounced zhe) Hong - this means great or magnificent tree

Age: 6 months

Bday:10/5/09

Height: These numbers are when she was 4 months- 23 1/2 inches

Weight: 4 months- 11.6 lbs

She is rolling over and responding to her name. She smiles easily and enjoys the caretakers at the orphanage. Her favorite toys are ones that make music. She is a deep sleeper.

She lives in the Guangdong province of China which is the same one as Hong Kong. She is up the coast a little bit. She is in an orphanage in a city.

I was crying at this point so I think I missed some information but it will all come to me tomorrow when our papers arrive.

At this point we only know that we will travel sometime within the next 5-7 weeks. After we formally accept her (which we will do tomorrow when we sign the papers) and they are sent back to China we will start knowing a more definite time table.

God is so good to us! We were praying for a young child- 6 months is the youngest that they adopt out. We were praying that the timing was right with Patrick's new job and school ending- Patrick will have enough leave time and I will only miss the last 3 or so weeks of school. We wanted Olivia and Joshua to be in different grades in school- done. The power of God amazes us every time we think of this process and the timing of it all in the big picture.

Prayer Requests:

1. Olivia's continued good health.

2. Adjustment of Cambria and Joshua as we begin to get things ready and while we are gone.

3. Financial

Thanks for all of your support! I am going to try to post her picture here!

Donna and Patrick

pictures of our family

Here are some pictures of our family.

Getting Started

Our Beginning,

We met in college (ok, the second day if anyone is counting) and dated for 4 years before we graduated and got married. From the very beginning adoption is something that we knew we wanted to pursue. After we had been married about 5 years we started to talk about this goal more seriously. We decided to look into foreign adoption because of the need and our hearts were soon captured by the girls of China. After talking to a couple of people who adopted from China we decided this is what we wanted to do. China has a requirement that both adoptive parents must be 30 at the time of placement so we decided to try the old fashioned way before our daughter came home from China. Cambria came into our lives and 2 months later we started the paper work for adoption. We chose a very reputable company to facilitate this for us. CCAI has worked in only Chinese adoptions for many years. The paperwork is daunting. It took us 8 months of working and waiting for papers to be approved by different agencies and waiting for the money part to work out before we sent our papers to China to be approved. We were approved on 4/12/06. This is called our log in date and basically this means that we were put on the bottom of the pile. When we got to the top we would be placed with a child and we would go to China 6-8 weeks later to get her. At the time of our log in date we were told to expect to wait 6-9 months to get to the top of the pile. This was daunting to new parents but we wanted our children to be close and knew that God's timing is always perfect. We are now at almost 4 years of waiting and close to 5 since we started the process.

During these years we have gone through times of sadness and longing to hold in our arms the child who has been in our hearts for so long. She has been Olivia for many years and she is our child even though we have never seen her. After over 2 years of waiting we decided to try to have another child biologically and Joshua entered our lives in October of 2008. So Olivia will be number 3 for us. (Patrick is sure we will be done after this but Donna is not completely convinced of this.)

At the very beginning we prayed over this process and for the timing to be perfect. I could tell you many reasons why looking back I can see God's hand in this process. I am able to work part time now, money is more stable, we are more experienced parents, our children are in good places in their development, and so on and so on. God is always faithful and we have known that in our heads even when our hearts took longer.

We are nearing the day when we will get our referral. We expect a call from our agency sometime this week or next. This is very exciting but also very daunting. All of a sudden the child who I don't let myself think about much is coming and we will begin a new chapter in our lives. We would like to use this blog to keep those that we love informed about this step in our journey.

We have some prayer requests for right now.

1. That Olivia is healthy.

2. That we will be able to save the last couple thousand that we need to go to China.

3. For Joshua and Cambria and their adjustment during this time.

4. For wisdom specifically concerning the attachment needs of Olivia.

With hope and love,

Patrick and Donna