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Bringing Home Max 2015

Adoption Registration and Orphanage Visit

February 3, 2015

The morning after we got Max in our arms, we returned back to the Civil Affairs building to complete the adoption. We were given a certificate and shook hands with the man proclaiming in Chinese that Max was officially ours'. Emotional and surreal moment. 

Afterwards we headed towards Max's hometown of Kaifeng to apply for his passport and visit his orphanage. This was a 2 hour drive both ways from Zhengzhou. I was sick to my stomach on the way over. Fearful of how Max would react upon return to his home and his nannies. This day was way more emotional for me than the day before, when we met him for the first time. It was a visit to the only world our son ever knew. A small green room with cribs lined up, connected to a playroom. He lived in room #4 on the second floor since we was 3 days old.
I know one thing for sure, our baby was loved there. I knew immediately that my prayers had been answered. His face lit up when he was reunited with his nannies and little "brothers and sisters." I was scared that he wouldn't want to come back to us when it came time to leave, and that would break my heart. Thankfully, though, he did come running back to me, smiling. And, I will remember that moment for the rest of my life. It was beautiful.
Max instantly became a different child. This return to his orphanage was closure for him, absolutely. I am so glad we were able to go.

Pictures from our day:

 Outside the Kaifeng City Social Welfare Institution (orphanage)

 Looking at Max's crib...

 His Chinese name still on the white label at the head of bed...

 His soon-to-be adopted friend, "Will".

Before we left Kaifeng, we were able to go to Max's finding spot. This is the location where he was found abandoned and taken to the orphanage. We got out of our vehicle and took some pictures and video so that we can share this information with him one day.
We were so glad to get home that evening, it was a LONG hard day. But one we will never forget.

Late Post! We have Max!

So obviously, I have not had a chance to blog about the last few days since we added on a toddler! It has been so busy with him, and any chance I have had to rest, I have taken it. I've never had jet lag this bad. It's taken me almost a week to finally sleep all night.

Monday, Feb 2 was our "gotcha day" when we met Max. I cannot even describe that day. Max was at the Civil Affairs building when we arrived. I spotted him across the room, in his very PINK girl clothes. Took my breath away. The nanny who brought him from the orphanage saw that we recognized him and she picked him up and started over to us. They matched his name to our ID cards. He came straight to me, very much in shock, no tears or crying. I was surprised. He was so limp and had no emotion. It was almost like he had been given sleep medication. He just fell into my arms and hardly moved for the few hours we were there. We watched 17 other babies meet their new families and it was just beautiful. 

It took us another day or two to realize that Max's coping mechanism is to completely shut down. One minute, laughing and playing, the next, blank stares, limp, no emotion. 

He smelled terrible so I had to change him that first afternoon (we were told to go slow with the clothes removal as they are used to being packed into several layers). I didn't want to shock him even more. I took off one layer and later, another. Followed by another. It was like peeling off the layers of his old self. I didn't know what to expect. It honestly scared me when I got down to the last layer. He was so small. Much smaller than I had imagined. He's 17 months now, and has only had formula with one scoop of rice as his primary diet. Occasional cracker, bread, maybe fruit when it was available. I left a 4 month old back at home, who eats more milk and cereal than Max does. And now that I've weighed Max, Drake is 2 pounds bigger!

I know that we have bonded with Max through food. He has LOVED eating. I got to feed him only two bottles before he totally gave those up. He is eating SO much that I worried we would cause his tummy to be sick. No problems so far though. He eats anything we give him. He especially loves fruit, Cheerios, and scrambled eggs. 

Feeding him has been so fulfilling for me. He gets so excited about it. Claps his hands after each bite, says "yaaayyyy"!!! That big grin of his. Melts my heart. 

And he LOVES to take a bath. Splashed the water the entire time. He stands by the tub multiple times a day wanting to get in. So precious. 

I will have to post again about our orphanage visit when we get a chance to load pictures from our big camera. I don't  have any on my phone. And that's a whole other blog entry as well. 

We leave tomorrow for Guangzhou where we will finish up Max's visa paperwork and physical that's required for him to enter the U.S. We are missing our babies and ready to be home! 

Thankful for your prayers. They are much appreciated and we feel them. 

Welcome to Zhengzhou

We have arrived in the capital city of Max's province. We had the exciting adventure of traveling by bullet train this morn. It was SO much better than an airplane. Just look at all the space! The seats reclined, turned towards the windows, had TVs, and snacks. We sat back and enjoyed the view of China and company from a few other families in our group. 

When we got to our room, Max's crib was already set up by our bed. It took my breath away for a moment. I was holding back tears. This is really happening. We meet him in less than 24 hours! 

We were given information about Max's daily schedule, including what and how much he is eating, likes and dislikes. We exchanged money at the bank and went to the Walmart down the street. There we bought formula and snacks for him. Everything looks so different from home so it took forever to find what we needed. 

Please keep us in your prayers! We are still tired from jet lag. We want to have lots of energy for our new little guy. 

We will be leaving to meet him, YOUR time, around halftime of the SuperBowl, 9:30 in the morning for us. So if you happen to be watching it, shoot up a small prayer for us if you think about it. We will post pictures as soon as we can!

Thank you and love to all. 

Saturday January 31

Today we visited the Great Wall! It was amazing and so much steeper than I thought. Jason climbed up very far and had to leave his out-of-shape wife behind with some other lady friends. He got some beautiful pictures on our good camera. 

Tomorrow morning we head to Max's province, Henan, via bullet train. We will be staying in the capital city of Zhengzhou, where we will meet him on Monday morning. 

I am feeling homesick for my babies back home. I miss them terribly. It feels like we've been gone for a long time, and we still have 2 weeks to go! 

Friday January 30

A very quick summary of our day. We are so exhausted. Jet lag has hit. 

Tianamen Square, Forbidden City

 Hutong Tour via "rickshaws" 

Lunch with a local family. Delicious!

Snack street... I loved this one! Take a look at this food!

Hello China!

We made it! Our flights were not bad at all. We had plenty of space to stretch out on our 13 hr leg. We took a bus with several other families to our hotel and grabbed a bite to eat at a local noodle shop next door. Thankfully they had menu with pictures so that we could choose our food. It was very interesting. I almost ordered pork intestines and donkey on accident. 

It is early morning hours here and I am wide awake. We have a full day of sightseeing to look forward to as several more families from our agency are making their journeys here to meet us. 

Will try to post again soon. 

About Max: I just got an email update about him. It says he is walking now. That makes me so happy! 

Here's a picture. 

I can't believe we get to meet him Monday morn!