May 20, 2013

May 20^th This is a Day of Love in China. Many people choose to get their marriage license on this day. It will always be a day filled with love for us. A day we received out gift from God. I have posted lots of pictures hoping to capture this moment as they say a picture is worth a thousand words but I am not sure the pictures can capture this amazing miracle. We continually prayed for the perfect match for our family and we know God answered that prayer. After being matched with Cargan we began praying that God would prepare his heart for this life changing event. What an amazing God we have and such a brave sweet boy.

We arrived at 10:30 at the building and took our picture as a family of 4 for the last time.

We were told that Cargan was not there yet. It would be 30 minutes until they would arrive. They had an hour and a half drive from the orphanage to the building where we were. We sat patiently and saw a few children arrive one at a time. It was beautiful. There was a family we met at breakfast that had waited 6 years for their daughter. I cried when I saw her in their arms. I was really trying not to cry. I didn’t want to scare Cargan. I had just gotten myself together when I heard someone say he was coming. It was earlier than expected and we barely had time to grab the camera and video. Cargan walked in the building and saw us. He came over and began showing us the things in his little bag. One was a photo book we had sent. He opened it up and proudly began telling us who was in the pictures including grandparents.

 Someone had spent some time with him explaining this book. I am so thankful for that person as he was so excited to meet us and just began sharing with us and then playing with the gifts we brought him.

He was so excited about the few little toys we had packed.

Sarah gave him some goldfish which he still loves to eat.

Pierson had lots of fun playing with the toys with Cargan.

We took our picture for our adoption papers.

We are now a family of 5!

It was an amazing moment. I think he was as excited as we were.
It was an answer to prayer!

Rest

Sunday May 19^th

Well I slept until 4am and then actually fell back asleep until 7:30am. Finally a little sleep. We went to the breakfast buffet at the hotel. There were many choices and some things we recognized. We ate a nice breakfast and then had a day to relax before our big day. We found the pool and went for a swim. You have to wear a swim cap, well most of us did. J 

And you can see how wet I got. The pool was very cold for an indoor pool.

Sarah explored the room a little and found a card that said there was a gas mask and a torch in case of an emergency. She found what was supposed to be the torch but we never figured out what the gas mask was supposed to be.

At bed time they would come in our room at night and leave this little mat on the floor, turn the blanket back, and leave a goodnight candy. Sweet Dreams. Tomorrow is the Big Day!

A Miracle Connection to China!

May 18^th

After a few hours of sleep we awakened extra early (God does that for a reason) and we went down to check out. We were scheduled on the 6 am shuttle but because we were early we made it on the 5:45am shuttle (this would be God working). Before we got on the shuttle the kids found these chairs in the lobby????

We arrived at the airport once again confused because of the language barrier but found someone to point us in the right direction. We found the check in counter and explained our situation and asked if there were seats closer to the front so we could get off the plane quicker. As she was checking things, I kept seeing signs that flights were cancelled. I was hoping ours was not. The sweet woman then told me there was an earlier flight leaving in 15 minutes and she could put us on that flight so we would have time to change planes in HK. I was excited but we had not been through customs and security and I know how long that takes. I asked her if we could make that flight and she said they would hold it for us if we hurried and gave us our passes. It took forever to get through customs but there stood a woman on the other side waiting for us she radioed we were coming. We ran and found the gate and got on to find we were in first class!!! What a treat. We had a lovely breakfast on real dishes and just when we were getting comfy it was time to land. (To bad this was our shortest flight). Too bad I didn’t get a picture! 

We landed in our confusing HK airport and finally found the gate after it was finally assigned. We had to take a shuttle to the gate. After sitting there for a while I saw a sign saying our gate was moved. We had to take the shuttle all the way back to the other side of the airport. We found our new gate. We then sat and waited. They moved the gate again to the one next to it. We were finally called for boarding (all at once) we were put on another shuttle bus. After everyone was crammed in it would not start. We all transferred to another shuttle and finally made it out to the plane on the air strip. (Are you getting a picture of why this is not my favorite airport) We got on and took off for the Henan Province. We never would have made the connection on the later flight with all the gate changes. We were so thankful for the miracle early flight!! We landed and found our Guide. We were so glad to be with someone who knew the language. We got to our lovely hotel and rested.

 We are finally in China!! We will see Cargan in less than 36 hours!!

The Home of God's Love Taiwan

Taiwan:

May16-17th

We were able to stay right at the Home were Pierson was when he was a baby. The missionaries Ted and Bev are such servants of the Lord. It was such a blessing to be there and for Pierson to see his beginnings. He recognized things from his scrapbook. It was a treasured trip. One we were so thankful to be able to do. God is good.



Ted, Bev and Pierson





Pierson at The Home of God's Love



There is a lake just down the road. It is much more modernized since our first trip. We drove in a princess cart around the lake. Here are a few pictures.

We went out with Ted and Bev and had a special lunch. We had a huge plate of food and then they brought out this special soup. I thought it was good. 

Ted is helping Pierson pick out the mushrooms.

 We went for a short trip to the tea fields just up the way from the Home.

It was sooo Hot our last day in Taiwan. I almost passed out from the heat. We then left Friday night and stayed at a fancy hotel (with air!!) before our next early flight to China.

Look what we found in the hotel room. The kids wanted to bring it on the plane!

While we were still at the Home a friend stopped in and we were discussing flights. At this time I realized we only had a very short layover in Hong Kong ( my least favorite airport) and we would never be able to make our connection. We put out a plea for prayer and God answered in a HUGE way. It was truly a miracle. I had no idea how it would work but I had so much peace and was not worried and went to sleep for a few hours. 

To China/Taiwan and Back

Because we did not have easy access to the internet I was not able to blog often. I will try to retell the story as best as I can. I pray you will see the miracle unfold.

Travel:

We left Monday May 13^th after dinner and drove to Newark New Jersey. We stayed at a hotel for a few hours before our flight early the next morning. Sarah volunteered to sleep on the sofa couch because she thought that was a neat thing. She soon learned they are not comfortable and said she would not do that again.

May 14^th (The day we came home with Pierson and the day we left for Cargan!)  After a few short hour of sleep we got up at 3 am, got ready and made our way to the airport.  After much confusion we finally found where we had to check in and then said our goodbyes to my mom who dropped us off. We then waited, boarded our first flight to San Francisco.

Sarah had her first meal on an airplane. She thought this was great, at least on this flight.

One part done. San Francisco is a nice airport. We had a layover and then started the long flight to Hong Kong!! It was long but we made it. Hong Kong airport is very confusing. (We had to use this airport 3 times and still did not figure it out.) We finally found our gate and then headed to Taiwan. We arrived 10:30 pm. Until we made it through customs, got our luggage and drove to The Home of God’s Love it was 1 am!!! We hit the beds right away after 36 plus hours of traveling.

Looking beyond the Limits

Yes, Cargan has some physical limitations and yes, we were aware of his needs from the beginning. . He as limited use of his left side but this does not stop this precious boy. The Lord has laid it on my heart to just put this out there. Before we went to China we were told people would stare at us because we were Americans and we did get those stares but we also got a lot of stares that appeared to be stares of confusion and then disgust because we were a mixed family. Once they would see Cargan walk the looks only worsened. It broke my heart to be in a country that does not value life, precious children and especially anyone gifted with a physical need. The hardest part of the entire trip for me was walking down to dinner the first night in GZ and seeing a crippled man lying in the middle of the sidewalk. As we walked by he looked at Cargan and smiled. All I could think of was that could have been my son one day. I was overwhelmed with thankfulness that I was holding his hand and he was a part of our family forever.

Now that we are home, I realize from some questions being asked that many of you are not aware of his physical gifts. Yes, I said gifts. He is an amazing boy who has been given a gift to teach him determination and that he has. We really did not say too much because that has never been what stood out to us about our son and didn’t realize it would be such an issue to others to be their first questions. So yes, we did know from the beginning he had limited use of his left side and we will be seeing doctors here to see how much help he may be able to receive. He is our gift from God and we love him just the way he is. If he is able to grow and strengthen by the Lords guidance to doctors and physical therapy, than we are thankful for that help. I have learned so much on this adoption journey looking at face after face of precious children that are looked over because they have what we call “special needs” after praying continually for these children and spending time with other families in China, I can only tell you it is pure joy as the parent to be blessed with a child that is so special. I have always taught my children that every person has something they struggle with in their life some you can see and some you can not. We need to love others for who they are not what they look like or how they behave because we have no idea what they may be dealing with. We need to encourage people to grow in Christ through their difficulties to be strengthened by an almighty God who can help each of us through anything. I can not wait for Cargan to learn about a God who has loved him from the beginning of time and I hope he will see that love through others here.
PS: please know I am not upset by the questions but just realized people were not expecting what they saw because they had not heard about his needs so wanted to fill people in.

Home One Week !!!

I can not believe we have been home for one week already! I am amazed by all that has happened. I hope to begin to start to retell about our journey but before I do I just have to give you all an update. When we first met Cargan he walked right into the room and came over to us and began to show us his few precious items he came with and then look through the picture book we had sent him. We know someone had shared with him about us because he knew who the grandparents even were in the pictures. He was excited and did very well. We had two wonderful days and then he began to through tantrums when he didn’t get his way. He had never been told no before and was use to just doing what he wanted. I can not begin to tell you how far he has come in just three weeks. I am amazed at all God has done in our son’s life already. He knows we mean what we say and I think this has brought him such comfort and safety to have someone care enough to give him boundaries. He still is not always happy about it but he is responding better each day. When we were in China Cargan would tell people he could not wait to get to America. I wasn’t sure what he was expecting but he has been so happy to be here.  It has been so exciting to see him do so many things that we think have been his firsts. He had his first ice cream cone.  It was his first time playing baseball and hockey.

Can you see the pure joy in that smile! He loves to play games, read books and color. It has not been all easy but I can tell you God’s hand has been in this transition. Overall he is doing well so far. We take each day one day at a time before the Lord helping him right where he is that day. We pray he will continue to understand the love of Christ.

HOME!!!!

Thank you for ALL your prayers!!! We made it home safely. Here is a picture of our family in the USA. I will try to post more soon, now that I can get on easily.