HOME!

More from the Hong Kong Airport- waiting to leave!

On the plane and ready to go!   Macie was LOVING looking outside and seeing all the airplanes and she got super excited during take off too.

Before Evan started not feeling well again...poor guy!

Well, we made it home safely!  We did have some rough moments getting there, but we're here and well now.   Our flight went fine.  Thankfully Evan and the kids slept a fair amount.  Rick slept a little bit and I was only able to sleep maybe an hour.  The kids all did really well on the plane.  Evan didn't fare so well with the motion sickness/jet lag combo, but we were prepared this time.  Sadly for him, unlike in the past when he got sick during the landing, he was sick every single time he woke up. I think he had to be dehydrated by the time we landed- he couldn't keep anything down and was so pale.  We ended up landing about 25 minutes early.  We quickly went through immigration and then were headed to use the bathroom and get our bags.  The one bathroom in that area was flooding and I mean totally flooding- water was pouring out of the toilets and onto the floor and eventually it made it's way out by the area where we were waiting for our baggage. It was absolutely disgusting and poor Lena had an accident because she was not able to use the bathroom.  Luckily we were able to change her before heading home.  After we got all our bags, we headed over to turn in our adoption paperwork.  Once they were finished and our luggage went through the security, we were on our way out.  My mom, stepdad, Jayce, and Rowan were not there yet because we were earlier than expected.  That gave us time to get Lena cleaned up.  We ended up meeting them outside as the van pulled up, so they didn't get to come in with their sign and balloons, but we were fine with that.  We were just so ready to get home. It was so nice to see Jayce and Rowan again!   The baby of the family always looks so much bigger when you've been gone for a couple weeks.  He's really not all that much smaller than the girls!  We beat the other boys home and even had time to go through our backpacks and get Evan and Lena a bath.  Evan was feeling much better with fresh air, a bath, and some rest on the couch.  So thankful for that!  We said goodbye and thank you to nana and Grandpa JP right about the time Grandpa and Grandma Henningfeld arrived home from school with the four big boys.  Reid, Elijah, Jonah, and Landyn didn't act too excited to see Rick and I, but they were SUPER anxious and excited to see and meet their new sisters!  

HOME!  They wanted to start coloring the back of our welcome home sign right away.  I think we're going to have to keep markers out of reach- these two like to use them to color on their clothes and many other places where they shouldn't be used...

Lots of balloons were waiting for us!

There were even some on their beds.  This is a new bed Rick made for Lena and Macie right before we left.  We have some finishing touches to do yet, but he did such a great job!

They were loving checking out all the toys we have and definitely gravitated to the toys that Rowan likes.

Saying goodbye and a BIG thank you to Nana and Grandpa JP.

These boys couldn't wait to see and hug their new sisters.  Their sisters weren't so sure at first- there was a lot of noise and a lot going on, but they quickly warmed up to them!

This girl!  She is always doing stuff like this.  I'm not much of a sports person, but I think I think we may need to get her signed up for gymnastics.

All the kids with grandma and grandpa Henningfeld.  That is one FULL couch!

After everyone left, Rick and I were wondering if we could even make it up til the kids' bedtime.  We were really starting to feel the jet lag and exhaustion.   We had tacos for dinner- thank you so much to the Johnson family from AWANA for that...such a blessing!   Then we went through backpacks and got homework done and studied for spelling and reading tests with our first and second graders. We actually had everything finished by about 6:30 p.m. and started bedtime a little early.  Macie fell asleep on Landyn while playing in her bed.  SO sweet!  The girls were all out very quickly.  The boys...not so much.  Rick and I were out pretty quickly too, but it was only a couple hours later and we had someone crying.  Evan came down many times, not able to sleep.  We were up a lot on and off between about 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. and I was in and out of rooms and beds all night.  I am feeling it today!  

Evan and Lena both decided they wanted to go to school today- Friday.  It's a short day for Lena so that shouldn't be too bad.  Hoping Evan makes it through the day!  We've gone through the mail and the school work that came home while we were gone.   We've had some phone calls that needed to be made and Rick's been outside trying to get our lawn cleaned up and garage re-organized for winter.  That was the biggest shock to our systems- the weather change!  We went from 70s and 80s to 30s and 40s!  We are so not ready for winter!   I've heard it's supposed to snow tonight too. Yikes!  The girls may wake up to their first snow tomorrow....crazy!   Tonight we plan to take it easy and have a movie night- a big thank you Rick's Vivayic team for the packages to make it a fun one tonight!   I am thinking I'll be sleeping during the movies.  I'm definitely dragging.  We are hoping that each night gets a little easier.  We will get through this, but these are definitely the hard days- getting used to our new normal and recovering from jet lag.

So glad to be home!

A Night in Hong Kong and Home Bound!

Yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, we checked out of the Garden Hotel and said goodbye to our guide, Lucia.  We took a van from Guangzhou to Hong Kong.  When the van pulled up, I knew I recognized the driver.  It was the same driver Michelle and I had from Shenzhen to Hong Kong when I traveled to China in September for advocacy work.   Small world!  I've said it before, but God is in the details.  It took us about 3 hours to get from Guangzhou to Hong Kong.  We had to stop and get out at one point, but thankfully didn't have to take all our bags through that area- just us and our passports.  Evan had mentioned that he needed some fresh air at one point- I thought getting out would help him.  The van was nice and cool too.   That was apparently not enough. Literally about a minute before we are to get out of the van, Evan starts throwing up.  Thankfully he caught a lot in his hands and shirt and I caught a lot in my hands and then in a pair of pajama pants I'd later just throw out.  Glad we had a bag of baby wipes on hand too.  We had minimal clean-up in the van, but I think we shocked our driver, Joe. I felt so bad.  I never did get to say goodbye to him.    Evan felt bad too, but there's not much you can do.  He definitely didn't have the flu and he never gets car sick so I think it's just a combo of things.  This almost always happens to him when we are about to land in Chicago or when we are in the car on the way home and I attribute it to lack of sleep and jet lag.  We're hoping he got it out of his system, but we'll be prepared with a bag on the plane and in the car on the way home, just in case.

Getting ready to leave the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou. Some of these are blurry because a little person changed my camera from auto to manual focus...

Macie does smile.  She's just got a serious face about 50% of the time and she had just woke up from a nap before we headed down to the lobby.

Saying goodbye to our wonderful and kind guide, Lucia.

Van ride back to Hong Kong.

We got checked in and to our room.  It was time for quick baths/showers and a good night of rest.  It was the first night Macie didn't cry before bed- maybe because we were all in the same room together.  

There were 3 in the bed and the little one said...

In the morning (Thursday, November 19th), we woke up and got ready and then headed straight into the airport. Our hotel was connected to the airport, which was very convenient.  We had one little melt down waiting in line for immigration and a lot of stares, but other than that, it was fairly easy and uneventful.  We are currently sitting at the gate waiting to board our flight back to Chicago!   We're getting very excited to be home, see our boys back at home, and to sleep in our own beds.

Our plane.

The kids waiting.  Macie is in awe of the airplanes.

Lena has adopted the traditional Chinese pose that children here do for photos. 

We LOVE our shirts, Fannie!

She likes to try and turn her head every time I take a picture. :)  She may be precious, but she's got some stinker in her too.  She can be really stubborn and is an amazing tattle tale. ;)

Evan and I have our matching shirts on.  I originally bought two kid sized shirts like these for Lena and Macie but the smallest size they came in was child medium so they fit Evan and Reid a lot better than they fit the girls. :)

Pretty soon the US will have two pretty darn adorable new US citizens! :)

We are anxious for everyone to meet them, but we also want to work on continuing our journey to building attachment.  We have learned from past mistakes.  This article sums up what I'd want to say pretty well.   I'd love it if our local friends and family took the time to read it.

http://www.nohandsbutours.com/2015/10/13/it-takes-a-village-a-letter-from-a-newly-home-family/

We won't be in totally hiding, but we do plan to cocoon some and want our family and friends to know that at this time it is very important that Rick and I be the ones to hold the girls, feed the girls, meet their needs, etc.  We don't mind our family talking to and interacting with the girls, but we really do need to be the ones who hold them, help them, etc.  We've read enough books about this and have adopted enough children now to know why it is so very important.  Thank you for understanding and for all your support and prayers.  We cannot thank you enough!

Wisconsin, here we come!!!

Our Last Day in China!

Today, Wednesday November 18th, was our last day in Guangzhou, China.  We had our last breakfast at the Garden Hotel and spent some time wandering around the hotel.  We then went back to the room and Rick and Evan took one last cab ride to One Link plaza to get some gifts for the boys at home and some Christmas presents.  The girls stayed here with me and we got everything packed up.  We took our air mattress back down to the concierge and picked up a package of a couple little things we had ordered from a shop on the island that weren't ready yesterday.  From there we headed to McDonald's to get a late lunch.  They have these ordering screens now (different than the last times we've been here).  You take your receipt/order to the counter to pay if you didn't choose the credit card option.  Then you wait for your order to be up.  Rick said it was pretty efficient when him and Evan went there for something a different day, but we didn't have as good of luck.  In just a couple hours, we will be checking out of the hotel and getting our visas for the girls.  Then we will be headed in a van to Hong Kong with a flight out tomorrow morning, Thursday, November 19th.   Please pray for safe travels home!  We are excited to see the rest of our family and for the boys at home to meet the girls and vice versa.  Thank you to everyone who followed our journey and for everyone who supported us in one way or another- we are blessed and we have felt covered in prayer, which is awesome!

https://youtu.be/R93Qps6lbmw

The small playground outside the hotel near the pool.

A little waterfall near the pool area.  The kids were all sweating from playing on the playground. :)

The McDonald's ordering system....I'm wondering if we will see these in our McDonald's in the future!?!?

More from Hong Kong later!

Consulate Appointment, Shamian Island and Last Night with Friends

Today was our last full day here in Guangzhou- I can hardly believe it!  The first part of our trip felt long, but this part has just flown by!  We started our day off with a very early breakfast- the restaurant was pretty empty.  We then met our guide, Lucia, at 7:40 a.m. to head to our consulate appointment- part of the process in getting the girls a visa in their Chinese passports so they can come home.   We were super thankful that Lucia had us leave early- we were the 2nd family out of 12 to arrive to the consulate so we were able to get through all of that fairly quickly.  Answered prayers- the family that got held up a bit yesterday had everything resolved shortly after 1 p.m. and were able to visit the Safari Park today.  Our process went very smoothly..praise God!

Lucia has been a great guide- she is super sweet.

Here we are at the US consulate. I forget when this was built, but it was sometime after we adopted Reid because it was the first time we had been to this building. It was very nice and much more spacious.  The lines outside were SO long. I was thankful we were citizens and got to go to a much shorter line.  I got to personally thank the man who expedited Maeleigh's article 5 to help us avoid an expired travel approval for Macie.  I did have a bit of an emotional moment in the consulate. I was happy to see both boys and girls being adopted, but sad to see that there were no children over about five.  There are some here being adopted that are over five- I've seen them and know they had consulate appointments at a different time.  But there are not many. I was thinking of Reid and realizing just how small the odds are for children six and older to be adopted.  My heart breaks for these kids.  I've now met some really great older kids, especially on my trip to China in September.  Most of them are still waiting for families to see them and choose them. I pray more hearts will find themselves open to adoption and that more families will consider these kids six to thirteen.  

They are worthy.

After our consulate appointment, we went to the China Hotel and picked up our friends Kristin and Russ and headed to the Chen Clan temple.  This temple was built between 1890 and 1894 for the Chen family.  Chen is one of the top five surnames in this province.  This place was built for their families to have a place to study so they could pass a certain test.  The architecture is gorgeous.  Evan, Reid, and I were able to visit this place when here for Reid's adoption, but this was a first time for Rick, Lena, and the girls of course.

Outside the temple there are two lion statues, one male and one female.  There are also two drums near the doors.  These things are said to be protection for this temple.

They have a bunch of amazing things carved out of bone.

The colorful parts are so pretty- the highest parts were made out of something different than the rest, which was made out of limestone.  The limestone part has to be re-painted yearly due to the weather.

A local artist who is famous for painting Chinese characters inside of glass.  Incredible really.  We had him paint the Chinese characters for Reid, Lena, Macie, and Maeleigh's names on the inside of this small ornament.

After our visit to Chen Clan, we had the driver drop us off at Shamian Island because we had some things we needed to pick up and we wanted to get the girls' pictures by some of the famous statues.

This was the first time we had TWO happy kids.  Reid and Lena both cried and were unhappy the day we visited the island on their adoption trips.

So it seemed it used to be a tradition for families to wear red, white, and/or blue for the consulate appointment day...but I think that tradition is fading away.  We might have gone a bit overboard and stood out just a little bit. ;)  

The island is so beautiful and has so many neat statues.

The girls hanging out while I ran in a shop to pick something up.

Heading to check out the Pearl River.

Mama and Macie.

Daddy and Maeleigh.

SISTERS!  

They were so silly posing.  Rick said we looked like we were heading to the fourth of July parade.

More wedding pictures...this dress was so beautiful!

Bye bye, Shamian Island!  We will miss you!

After we got back, I painted the girls' toenails- they were all pretty excited about it. I wish I had taken a picture.   After that, we visited with some friends we've met here for the last time and then went to dinner at Oggy's- one of my favorite Italian places here in Guangzhou.

Visiting with and saying goodbye to Kristin, Russ, and their beautiful little girl, Elliott.

It was an honor to meet and get to know this little cutie who I once had advocated for.

 Maeleigh and our friend's new son, Vallen- they are both just too cute!

 

Evan and his new friend, Baron, hanging out for the last time here at the hotel.

Dinner at Oggy's with our friends. Andrea and Jody and their daughter, Yvonne, and Heidi and Adam and their six awesome kids, Taylor, Isaiah, Baron, Lily, MeiLin, and Vallen.

We had another great day!  Tomorrow Rick and Evan are going to take one last run to One Link Plaza to look for some gifts for the boys back at home and the girls and I are going to hang out and pack.  We check out at 4 p.m. and get our visas for the girls shortly after and then head to Hong Kong by van. We will sleep one night there and fly out the following morning.  Getting closer and closer!  Bittersweet, that's for sure!