Wow! God has been so good to us on this trip and with this new child. It’s like a light switch has been thrown for Alexis and she has accepted us as her family. Now, I am not naive enough to think things are perfect from here on out. I’m just saying that the shy, introverted side of her seems to have disappeared. What has appeared is a strong willed, happy, loving little girl. She wants to sing, play, talk, play some more, color, and pretty much anything else she’s offered. She sees herself in pictures and says her name out loud in a growing crescendo until her final syllables are near the peak of her volume: Lin Guo TIAN!!!!! I’m betting the hotel neighbors love it.

Christian and I took her outside this morning before lunch to play in the open garden area in front of the hotel giving Momma a little quiet time to rest and do a little Bible study. Christian played with his heliquad while she watched from her stroller. Well, that lasted just a few moments. She was out of the stroller and chasing his heliquad around to make sure it was upright and ready to fly again each time it touched down. In between, she’d kick me the soccer ball we had out. She downed a bag of dry cereal and a bottle of water. Okay. The water went down her shirt as much as her throat, but she loved it and it cooled her off. Not such a bad trade off.

Once back into the hotel room, she returned to laughing and playing again. And she hasn’t stopped all day. She’s thrown a few little two year old tantrums when she didn’t get things like she wanted them, but what two year old doesn’t do that? It just tells us she’s very normal.

David stopped by with lunch for us again today, bless his heart. He is amazed at some of the things she has been saying and doing. He keeps telling us how smart she is and how she’s so articulate considering her cleft lip and palate. It’ll be interesting to see how that changes with the surgeries. David has been a God send for our family on this trip. He has already been given an open invitation to our home whenever he wants to visit Texas. He says our meat tastes weird in the states, but I figure I know enough good BBQ places that might change his mind. If nothing else, we always have Chick Fil A. 🙂

Speaking of eating, we made it through dinner at a local Chinese restaurant without David there to interpret. Well, he did write up what we wanted on a piece of paper for us to hand to the waitress. She giggled as she walked away. I’m sure it was the cuteness of my son that was making her giggle and not the pathetic need for written directions to get our meal. We never got any soy sauce, to Christian’s dismay. They did bring us two large spoons in the middle of the dinner. I guess they thought we weren’t cutting it with the chop sticks. Christian and I were doing just fine. Monica had already given up and swapped to the serving spoon they provided. No matter. We all were full when we left. I used the Cantonese translator app that I put on my iPhone to ask for the bill (another giggle) and offered up a 100 yuan (my normal procedure). And considering it costs us about 80 yuan ($12 American) to get a very full meal for the entire family, I’d say it’s worth the trip. No way we get out that cheap in Longview for Chinese food (or any other type for a family of four). Family of four. That’s still foreign to me. Every time we walk into a restaurant, I hold up three fingers as a translation for a table for three. That fourth finger has to make an appearance at some point automatically soon. I will remember.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Nanning. We have a trip to a museum planned. I fully expect Alexis to be bored out of her mind, but it is important to Monica and me that we understand the culture and history of her birth country and province. Lots of pictures and notes should help us be able to keep her informed of her background. No need to lose the rich ancestry she has had just because an American family decided to adopt her as their own. Now, she’ll have two family histories to share with her own kids one day.

Thank you, Kevin McKay, for this very thoughtful Irish blessing you sent our way:

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Kevin

Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Stefan Ray via Compfight

This is really Christian’s story to tell, so I will let him do that in a post of his own. Not knowing how long it will take him to publish it, I did want to post a picture of him presenting a cash donation to David. David has been working with the orphanage to help them purchase something they really need. Again, it’s his story to tell. I’m not going to ruin it for him. I will say we are all very pleased that the money the White Oak Middle School staff and students worked hard to raise is going to be used in such a longterm fashion. They have left a bit of a legacy in China.

We had a pretty good night last night. It was our first as a new family of four. Alexis mourned a little off and on, but that was to be expected. Her little cry is very sad. To say she was unsure of us is a bit of an understatement. I can completely understand. We have taken her from everything she knows. She’s not scared of us, thankfully. She’s just a bit unsure. It will get better with time.

Today is Registration Day! It is the day that the Chinese government asks us if we wish to keep her and swear to take care of her for the rest of her life. She has already won our hearts, so the answer will be pretty easy. Monica got to use her first hair bow with Alexis, so that’s a pretty big deal for her. Alexis didn’t mind. We grabbed some breakfast and loaded into the same private van we used the day before to pick her up. We returned to the district office where the orphanage director and nanny was waiting along with a stack of paperwork for us to sign. The nanny was so happy to see Alexis. She came over and held out her arms to try to pick her up. To all of our surprise, Alexis shook her head no. That made Monica very, very happy inside. The nanny feigned being upset and went to tell the director what she’d encountered. They both seemed happy that she was attaching to us  so quickly.

At some point, David came to get us and have us answer questions from the Chinese official who was handling our case. She asked us if we wanted to keep her. Absolutely. She asked us why we would adopt. We told her about all that we have to give to another child and wanted to freely. She asked why China. Monica and I both froze. The truth could get us in some hot water and we really hadn’t thought much about a good alternative story. So, I told the truth. We spent time looking at other countries, including domestic adoption. We felt like God was telling us there was a child in China that needed us and our family to take her in. David’s eyes got big and he said something that sounded like, “Ooooooo.” Then he told her our story. She looked at him and glanced at us several times. We just kept smiling. Then her next question: “Do you have a plan for what you are going to do for her medically?” Whew. Either David didn’t tell the truth, or we found someone who could appreciate our faith and beliefs. We’d have to find out later. Oh, and yes we have a plan for her medically. The Chinese official was very happy that we had insurance to help cover the medical expenses that lie ahead. Then, we commenced to signing about a half dozen documents.

We offered our gifts to the Chinese workers and then spent the better part of two hours awaiting the paperwork to be finished. While we waited, the kids played in a little playroom that was by the desk we were working at. Alexis really loved the rocking horses and Christian had a great time racing her on them. She thought he was hilarious. She enjoyed everything but the slide. She laughed when she went down it once, but she didn’t want another trip. She was back to the rocking horses.

Once the paperwork was completed, we had a swearing-in ceremony of sorts with the Chinese official. She had very kind words to say to us (according to David’s translation) and sent us on our way. We took some pictures with the orphanage director and nanny and everyone was on their way.

Another monumental day for the Floyd family in this journey. Now, more waiting for documents and more travel to complete more documents, and then we head home. That’s still two weeks out. We have a lot of site seeing and bonding to go through between now and then.

NOTE: While we were signing papers, Christian grabbed the camera off the table and began snapping pictures. The one above of Monica and I holding hands is one that completely surprised me. He has so much compassion and understands the depth of this process. To even think to capture an image like that astounds me. I am very proud to have him along on this journey with us. We couldn’t have asked for a better son.

Gotcha Day. This was the event we traveled over 7000 miles to have take place. We were finally going to get Alexis as a new daughter and sister. As you read in the previous post, we spent some time keeping our minds busy going to Wal Mart, but it was hard to not think about all that the afternoon would have in store for us. We took a private van to the district office where the orphanage director would meet us with Alexis. We expected a long ride, like every other ride we seem to take in China. But, it was only a few minutes and we were there. After some wrangling at the gate between the driver, David, and the security guards, we were allowed to drive into the compound to be let off at the door instead of on the street.

Walking up the marble stairs and through the glass doors of the office was pretty nerve-racking. The young boy for the family we were with was standing in the main entry hall with his nanny. They pointed to a little room off to the side for us to find Alexis. And find her we did. She was gripping the little electronic voice recorder that we sent with out picture in it. Both her orphanage director and nanny were sitting with her pointing to the pictures and then to us.

It didn’t take long and Monica was in tears. Tears of joy, mind you. She was torn between wiping her eyes and reaching out to Alexis. Alexis, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure about the whole ordeal. I quickly set up the video camera on the tripod in the corner so nobody had to hold it and began snapping pictures with the Nikon.

Alexis would point to one of us in the little picture and then to the one of us that matched. She recognized us. Now, we were beginning the long process of her getting comfortable with us. The nanny and director were very compassionate people who you could tell loved Alexis. They were doing their best to get her to adjust to us well enough to move through the day.

We left the room and moved into the bigger hall where Christian began to take over. He played with Alexis as is he had a little sister for years. They played with the little toy cell phone we bought at Wal Mart (at David’s suggestion) and the little purple soccer ball they had at Wal Mart that matched the one in the picture we received of Alexis in the beginning. They spent a lot of time following each other in the foyer.

Monica and I spent the entire time following the two of them around and doing our best to exchange looks, words, and touches with Alexis in the hopes that she would feel comfortable with us. It was funny the way she would cut her eyes at us trying to figure us out. We could tell already that Alexis is a very strong willed young lady. One, that fits well into our house where I’m the only passive one <cough, cough>, and two, this will help her in the future as she has many surgeries that lie ahead to repair her cleft lip and palate. I did forget to mention that part. She has cleft lip and palate. They did not repair it before our arrival, which we were glad to see. We have many appointments lined up upon our return to the states to get the process started.

We filled out papers swearing to take care of her for the next 24 hours while everyone settled into the new family makeup. Some more tears of happiness were shed during this process.  With some pictures taken for the province, the orphanage, and for us, we ended our roughly 90 minute “get to know each other” event. It was back to the hotel and our first dinner and night together. Tomorrow is Registration Day. That means the adoption is finalized with the Chinese government, and she’s all ours.

Well, this was the big one. Our mediocre night of sleep ill prepared us for what was ahead of us. Our lack of sleep was a combination of warm hotel room and anxiety.

Our day began with trip to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Christian and I browsed through the buffet line…once. We then passed on all of the offerings, bid our adieu to Monica, and found some granola bars in the hotel room to get us through to lunch.

We met David in the lobby and headed to the Bank of China with our wad of US dollars ready to convert it to Chinese yuan. While this was a bit nerve-racking carrying large amounts of cash for those few blocks and then carrying it all back to the hotel, it was made easier knowing that our next trip was a bus ride to a familiar location, Wal Mart.

We still had about 6 blocks to walk after we got off the bus, and as luck would have it, a Pizza Hut got in the way. The only thing I recognized was the pizza. We ordered a half cheese/half beef pizza and two cokes without ice. What we got was two cokes without ice and a pizza that was half cheese and half something I didn’t recognize. My wife later identified it as some type of spicy beef teriyaki. I ate the cheese pizza with Christian. Lesson learned. Beef in China doesn’t equal beef in the USA. We at least had something familiar in our stomachs and were now headed to Wal Mart.

And when I call Wal Mart familiar, I mean that we recognized the logo. Not much else, though. They did have odd carts with slotted wheels. The slotted wheels made sense when we realized that the Wal Mart was two stories, and the escalator was more of an inclined moving sidewalk that the slots of the cart tires fit into to keep them from rolling down the incline. It is a pretty ingenious design. Christian and I scoped out the important things: batteries for the quadcopter remote, six packs of Coke, Oreos, Hershey candy bars, chocolate pudding, and some Honey Bunches of Oats. Monica got other things like a stroller, hair straightener, and probably some less important things than Christian and I bought. This time, we caught a private ride back to the hotel because we had more important things to do…like get a new daughter. That’s a whole post in itself.

Today was another travel day for us. Quite a whirlwind one, too. The Hyatt Regency Sha Tin was nice enough to give us a late checkout so we didn’t have to sit in the lobby for two hours awaiting the shuttle. After another generous helping of breakfast, we packed and left for the airport. Joey (pictured on the right) was there with the shuttle to check on us and give us our sendoff from Hong Kong. She’s a very nice lady.

Our next destination was Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi. This is the province that Alexis will come from. Her home town is about two and half hours outside of Nanning in a place called Yulin City. They consider it small since it only has about 1.5 million residents. Really? Small?

The Hong Kong Airlines flight was quick. We made it to Nanning in just a little over an hour. That was enough time to get some cookies and water on the flight. Not much else. We followed the crowd through immigration and then customs. Or was it the other way around. Regardless, we made it through. Our passports were checked twice and then while we were in line with our luggage awaiting the final scan to leave the airport, a guard came and checked them again. Guess we stood out a little in the crowd.

As soon as we got our luggage past the last scanners, we saw the smiling face of David, another CCAI employee. He was as excited to see us as we were to see him. He suggested on last restroom break before we took the 45 minute ride to the hotel. This was Monica’s first run-in with the dreaded “squatty potty.” She decided to stand in line and await the one western styled stall. I don’t blame her.

The drive to the hotel was a fairly quick one, but I have to say, that’s the most horn honking I’ve ever experienced on a road. I asked David would they be able to still drive if their horns broke. Laughing incredulously, David said it would be tough.  I believe him. Watching traffic here seems like a symphony of near misses, and nobody is mad about it. Interesting.

We had enough time to check into the hotel and meet the other family who is here to adopt a little boy from a nearby orphanage. It’s their second adoption from China. It wasn’t long before we headed off to dinner at McDonald’s.  It was about a 20 minute walk each way. We should have just stayed at the hotel. The jetlag combined with the day of travel and the heat and humidity of Nanning made me miserable. I ate my Big Mac (which didn’t have a familiar flavor) and fries and drank as much of the warm Coke (no ice since it is the not so good water system) that I could before realizing I needed a chocolate sundae to cool me off. That helped. It gave me enough of a boost to get back to the hotel anyway.

The hotel room air conditioning would not go below 25 degrees C. That’s about 77 F and the humidity made it seem hotter. That might explain these odd safety kits )pictured to the left) in the closet that seemed to protect you from either heat or a gas attack.  As tired as I am, though, I need to get in enough hours of sleep to make it through. Tomorrow is the big day: Gotcha Day.

I also have to do something about the AC, though.

Yesterday was a day of sensory overload. The colors and smells and fast paced people were so much to take in. We met the Lucky family as we were boarding the tour bus. Great family. Easy to talk to. She’s a teacher and he owns a software development firm. Needless to say, we had things in common.

Our tour director was Ming, but he offered to let us call him Mr. Dynasty. Get it? Anyway, he came highly recommended from Matthew, and he lived up to every bit of the billing. He was so full of knowledge and had so much cultural perspective to share, and he didn’t mind sharing it either. It helped us out to better understand the family member we are about to add.

Once we get home and don’t have the firewalls we have here, I will embed a slideshow of our Hong Kong tour so you can see everything I cannot describe. What I can say is that it is a country/city of vast wealth and poverty, but the citizens are hard workers. Knowing that they spend 12-15 hour days earning a paycheck puts things into perspective. It also made sense as to why there was still so much traffic on the roads as we headed to the hotel so late from the airport. Ming said it was the time they could finally get together with friends after working all day.

We visited a number of beautiful places, but the curvy roads in between them all was a bit much for several of the tour members. There was some Dramamine passed around to settle the stomachs.

One of the highlights of the tour had to be the boat tour through the harbor. Seeing how the fishermen lived was truly astonishing. I took lots of pictures because I’m pretty sure I couldn’t put into words exactly the state of their “homes” on the water. Once again, it makes me appreciate what God has given me and my family.

Christian will tell you that his highlight of the day was Stanley Market. He was on the hunt for a case for his iPod, but he ended up in serious negotiations with an older gentleman to get a better price for a heliquad (his term for this neat remote controlled, video camera flying machine) and a new green laser pen (an addiction created by my colleague and good friend Michael Gras). While the price started at 880 HK Dollars, Christian negotiated him down to 475 HKD (roughly $65). Not bad at all. He even got a free battery thrown in. We left hearing the gentleman’s wife yelling at him over the deal. I’m pretty sure that gave Christian some satisfaction knowing that he got that good of a deal that the guy was getting in trouble with his wife. In the end, we were five minutes late back to the shuttle bus, but Christian was two items richer.  For me, I look forward to seeing how long the quadcopter lasts. We have acres and acres of trees around our house hungry for just that type of meal.

We ended the day at the Hyatt Regency downtown since there were more restaurants to choose from. We waited by the bay for a laser light show, but it just never happened. A stray laser here and there got our hopes up, but it just made us realize how tired we really were. Standing and waiting will do that to you. So we did what any red blooded American would do. We went to Outback. I don’t know if it was our level of exhaustion or just acclimating to the food differences, but it wasn’t that great. We finished and hurriedly found the shuttle back to our Hyatt for some much needed rest. It didn’t take long to realize we were about 4 hours past the time we should have been back in bed. We had hit the wall.

Twenty eight hours. It was twenty eight hours from the time we woke up in Houston to head to the airport until we finally entered our hotel room in Hong Kong. We left Texas on April 10th and arrived at the Hong Kong airport late night on April 11th. By the time we got to our hotel room, we were less than an hour shy of it being April 12th.

To say my family was tired is an understatement. We tried to get short naps on the plane, but we didn’t want to oversleep and not be tired when we got to Hong Kong at 10PM. By we, I mean mean Monica and Christian. I grabbed a few minutes of rest during our lengthy layover in Tokyo and that was about it. Christian and Monica can sleep anywhere…and they did.

Our flight from Houston to Tokyo was a bumpy one. Lots of turbulence. I thought a Boeing 777 would be smoother, but I was wrong. It wasn’t horrible by any stretch unless you take into account that United Airlines has yet to add WiFi to these flights. If you know me, you realize that was like me going without oxygen. We did have a few meals and lots of free, current movies to watch on the flight, so that helped pass the time. But no WiFi? Really?

The flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong wasn’t bad at all. They didn’t have movies for us, but they did have a camera built into the nose of the plane that you could watch on the TV screen in the seat back in front of you. Sadly, it was pitch black outside, so we only got to see the approaching runway lights as we landed in HK.

Matthew from CCAI met us at the baggage claim and loaded us on the shuttle with our driver Jeff. Jeff did a great job getting us safely to the Hyatt Regency Sha Tin. Once at the Hyatt, Joey (another CCAI staff member) met us and got us checked in. I have to say, CCAI has the best staff, and they are so dedicated to making sure we are comfortable and taken care of.

It would be a disservice for me to not mention that the Hyatt Regency Sha Tin is a fabulous hotel. The breakfast was unbelievable. It was so good that Christian was wanting to get a selfie with the pancake chef. He spent two hours eating breakfast this first morning alone.

We seemed to have adjusted pretty well to the time shift, but we will know more later today. I have a feeling we will hit a wall later tonight.  We have a tour lined up later today for the family. It’ll be interesting to explore this new culture. It will be nice to do it as a family. We will also meet up with the Lucky family on this tour. They are another family here to adopt from the CCAI family. It’ll be nice to share experiences with them.

Photo Credit: Swaminathan via Compfight

I am blessed to work with such caring colleagues at White Oak. We have felt all of the prayers sent our way for this journey. On the way out this morning to the airport, I got this most excellent email from Mitzi and Jerry Neely. With her permission, I am reprinting it here:

Good morning Floyd Family!

I want to bring greetings on behalf of the Neely family as we share in the joy, excitement and adventure of adding Alexis Lin to your precious family.

Our prayers for you will come in increments: 1st – One has already been answered with your safe travel to Houston. 2nd – Our prayer is for safe travel to Hong Kong (please be sure to stretch your legs during this plane ride so that you are all healthy and strong when you get there; we didn’t recommend high-impact aerobics because of limited space, but the walking around part is absolutely necessary because of the circulation needed for your legs. 3rd – The next prayer is for safe travel from Hong Kong to the location where Alexis is (Scott told me the name of the province? but I would be remiss if I attempted to spell it).

4th – Prayer for any meetings, paper work, etc. needed to be taken care of before you get to meet Alexis. 5th – Prayer for Alexis and your family that she will feel an immediate connection, peace, feel safe and secure and that Christian melts her heart, as only a brother or sister can sometimes do. We are praying for your hearts to be calm, although as humans the anxiousness overruns us sometimes, and finally, for the transition to be as smooth as possible for all of you. 6th – Prayer that your time together will be one of joy and that you will be able to see the sights, learn about Alexis and her little personality characteristics, and that this will be an adventure of a life time for your family. 7th – that your return trip will be safe and that you will experience minimal trials or frustrations with what ever you are dealing with. Remember to walk around on the long flight home — your legs need circulation:) And Finally, 8th – that you return safely from Houston to Longview (Gladewater), and that while you may be experiencing sleep deprivation, etc. you will be full of joy that your family is complete. Believiing too, that while Alexis is a gift from God, you all are a gift to her. None of this is by accident–for all has been planned and made possible by our Heavenly Father.

We will close with this:

‘As you Look into the day that stretches out before you, you see many choice-points along the way. The myriad possibilities these choices present can confuse you. Draw your  mind back to the threshold of this day, where I stand beside you, lovingly preparing you for what is ahead.’    Lamentations 3:22-26; Psalm 34:8 from Jesus is Calling

 

We Love You!

Mitzi and Jerry Neely

It is messages like this one that have gotten us through the four long years of waiting and we know will continue to build our strength in the weeks to come while in China. Thank you, my dear friend, for this timely email.

Photo Credit: Derrick Tyson via Compfight