From China With Love

Ni Hao Beijing


After 24 hours of travel we finally arrived in Beijing. We have been struggling with jet lag but managed to get in a full day of sight seeing before crashing once again. In the two days we have been here, we haven't managed to make it to dinner yet, but tonite we plan to hit the town, instead of falling asleep before we could get back out the door.

Beijing is a large modern city, not that different from NYC at first glance. Full of modern skyscrapers, cars and people, 14 million to be exact. What distinguishes it is the haze, bicycles, and once you look up you notice many of the buildings have Chinese style roofs. It is also very monochromatic full of muted grays and browns. I'm sure winter is not helping this perception and we've been wondering if this is a byproduct of the cultural revolution.

Our hotel is in the business district and has all the western and eastern conveniences. We had been forewarned that the hardness of the Chinese bed is commiserate with the number of stars a hotel receives. Rock equals luxury! So, we were pleasantly surprised to have pretty comfy beds and a nice hotel. Breakfast is a very elaborate buffet with a Chinese side and an American one. I've been sampling the Chinese and had dumplings with a vinegar sauce yesterday and plan to get a little more daring and try congee today.

During our first day of site seeing we met our travel group, two families from Colorado, one from Georgia and one from Wisconsin and made our first stop at Tian'an Men Square and the Forbidden City. All I can say is that they are vast and pictures don't do them justice. The square itself is filled with people, mostly other tourists, almost all Asian and military and police officers. We learned a lot about the history but not surprisingly our tour guide neglected to mention it's most recent history and the one we westerners know best.

Passing out of Tian'an Men Square we ventured to the Forbidden City a palace home to Chinese emperors for nearly 500 years. It consists of 9,999 and 1/2 rooms. That's right folks, 9,999 and 1/2, something to do with lots of concubines, rooms that can only be used once and feng shui. I like to call it the Endless and Very Cold City because it is spread out through a series of enormous courtyards and the inside portions of the tour consisted of one room. The other thing we discovered during our touring was that the Chinese are fascinated by American kids. The children in our group were like little rock stars. People stopped them repeatedly to take photos with them, kiss them and touch them.

We thawed out over a delicious traditional Chinese style lunch and then went on to a silk factory. We concluded the day with a tour of an old style Beijing neighborhood called a Hutong, on rickshaw. The old Beijing style of living, versus todays multi-story apartment complexes, consists of four single story dwellings built around a courtyard off of narrow alleyways. We had an inside view by visiting Ms. Wu, a 70 year old woman who opens her home to tourists. The dwelling gave new meaning to the word tiny!

Today we are headed to the Great Wall and Olympic Stadium. More later. I have to get to breakfast before all the congee is gone!

And Away We Go...

Jerry and I managed to get to the airport with time to spare this morning and we arrived 45 minutes early here in San Francisco (a tight connection for us).  Hopefully a sign of good travel karma.  We are dining on our last American meal as we wait for our flight.  Actually Tex-Mex!  

It’s been a stressful few days leading up to our departure.  Lot’s of last minute “to do’s” from our agency, plus packing for two climates and a person we haven’t met yet.  Throw in preparing Emmett for his three- week vacation from Mom & Dad and you’ve got craziness in the Fitzpatrick/Smith household.  Not to mention the eleventh hour call from our agency that a critical document has not yet made it to the Chinese Consulate.  At this point, Jerry is not the only one with high blood pressure!

In the midst of the anxiety about leaving Emmett and getting everything done, there have been some pleasant surprises that made everything feel OK.   I’ve noticed that there is something about sharing our adoption story that warms the heart.  As we prepared to travel friends and neighbors reached out volunteering to help care for Emmett, lend us items for the trip and support our wonderful parents as they take charge of our household.  I also had several instances in my pre-travel errand running where people went the extra mile to assist us once they heard our story.   Receiving warm wishes from old friends and the heartfelt genuine interest from strangers when our travel plans came up, never failed to brighten my day.  

I would be remiss in suggesting that any of this is new, only just more acute in the last few weeks.  Since the beginning of our adoption journey friends and family have supported us, and those that were uncertain or unfamiliar with international adoption, opened their hearts and minds to it. 

All in all we feel very lucky (nervous too)!

CCF

The Long & Winding Road to Henan

We received our itinerary and final travel details over the weekend.  Yes, you are reading this correctly, it's a few short days before we hop on a plane.  Many families have a few weeks to make their arrangements, but our timeline is somewhat shorter because of the Chinese New Year (CNY).  CNY is a is celebration of the lunar new year and lasts over a week.  Happy Year of the Tiger everyone!  Since CNY is one of the largest holidays in China many offices close throughout the country from shortly before the holiday on February 14th through this past Monday.

Needless to say it's been a busy few days desperately trying to get ready.  So here is what our trip looks like.

We leave for Beijing bright and early tomorrow morning at 6 AM and arrive in China the next day at 3 in the afternoon.  This is easily the longest flight we have ever been on.  I've warned Jerry that if he even attempts to use my armrest,  I will ask to have him removed, a la Kevin Smith!

We will be in Beijing for about three days and are hoping to visit the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City among other things.  These three days are set up to learn a little about Chinese culture and history and to recover from your jet lag before meeting your child.

On the 28th we fly to Zhengzhou (pronounced Jung-Jo) in Henan province,  just under 2 hours by plane.        Henan is the most populous province in China with over 100 million people.  It is known as  China's breadbasket because of it's agricultural history and on a cool side note is home to the Shaolin Temple, birthplace of Kung Fu.  According to our agency Henan is a late comer to international adoption placing very few children for adoption until recently.

On 3/1 we meet Liam and sign a guardianship agreement and the adoption will be finalized the next day after a "get to know you" period.  We will stay in Zhengzhou through 3/5 completing paperwork and receiving Liam's passport.  We will also travel to Jiaozuo, the city Liam is from and are hoping to get approval to visit his orphanage, specifically Eagles Wings, the foster care home he has lived in most of his life.

On 3/5 we fly to Guangzhou, a city near Hong Kong on the South China Sea, for the final leg of our trip.  More on Eagles Wings and Guangzhou later.  Back to packing!

Charity begins at EA and heads to Haiti

The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands.   
Robert M. PirsigAuthor of Zen and the Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance

A shout out for Jerry's company Education Affiliates and their Haitian relief efforts.  EA raised over $30,000 to be split between three charitable organizations working on the island.  I am so happy to announce that one of them is the Maison des Enfants de Dieu, the orphanage or creche our adoption agency CCAI works with.  

Following the 7.0 earthquake, which hit the island on January 12th, the CCAI family was relieved to receive reports that all 130 children and their caretakers at the creche were safe.  However, their situation was desperate.  The creche had been destroyed and the children were living under tents with babies sleeping in the trunk of a truck.  Even some days later aid had not reached the orphanage and their situation became dire.  In typical CCAI fashion, they immediately organized a relief flight and and were able to deliver food, water, charcoal and other supplies to the orphanage director in Haiti. 

 I have always been impressed with CCAI's two fold approach to their work.  Not only are they committed to finding families for children in need of adoption, but also making a difference for the vast majority of orphaned children that will remain in their homeland.  In our son, Liam's Province they have provided disaster relief and have helped expand and improve medical facilities, educational, childcare and foster care services.

As most of us know, CCAI's initial effort in Haiti was just a drop in the bucket and continued support will be needed.  Particularly for orphanages like Maison des Enfants de Dieu as they begin the long road of reuniting children with their families and welcoming new orphans into the creche.  

Anyone interested in following EA's lead, can learn more about the Creche and see photos of the children at http://chinesechildren.org/Haiti/HaitiSlide.aspx 

Thanks EA!

Meet Fu Song Bai

Back in November, we received our long awaited referral for a beautiful little boy named Fu Song Bai.  Song Bai means Pine Cypress.   Song Bai is 2 years old and lives in Jiaozuo City in Henan Province.  His referral included a development report from the Jiaozuo City Welfare Institute that described his personality as lively and cheerful. The report also says,  "he loves to talk and smile.  He also loves to imitate and is full of energy.  He has grown very handsome.  His physical condition and sleep are good and he seldom falls ill.  Sometimes when this little guy is playing with toys, he likes to talk to the toys in his own language.  He often follows the nannies to learn by doing what the nannies do, very orderly and serious.  The nannies all really like him, and he really likes the nannies who care for him".
CCF

It's A Girl! No, It's a Boy!!!!!!

When most people think of children adopted from China, little girls immediately come to mind.  And yes, the vast majority of healthy babies abandoned and subsequently adopted internationally from China have been female.  A great book on the subject is The Lost Daughters of China:  Abandoned Girls, Their Journey to America, and the Search for a Missing Past by Karin Evans.

We always thought that when our dossier was finally matched at the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) that it would be with a little girl.  It was only when the timeline for the process began to stretch far beyond what we had anticipated, did we begin to do some soul searching.  When our initial 22 month wait turned into 32 months we began to have doubts about continuing in the program.  We had invested so much of ourselves that we didn't want to give up, but estimates of 48 months or beyond were heartbreaking.  Even though we had never been in a rush, we had to decide whether an infant would be a good fit for us in four years time?  Jerry would be like 100 (alright slight exaggeration, more like 50) and would Emmett have the sibling relationship we had hoped for considering the age difference?

We felt strongly that adoption was right for us and decided to explore other options, which is how we discovered the Chinese Waiting Children.  These are typically children available for adoption that may be older or have mild to moderate special needs, sometimes corrected or correctable.  When I contacted my agency I was shocked to find out that about 50% of these kids are boys and that most waiting families still prefer girls.

Once Jerry and I talked about it we realized that a little boy closer in age to Emmett was probably the best fit for our family and in June 2008 sent in our application for the program.

After a few roadblocks we were on our way again and based on our preference for a boy we could expect to be matched in under a year.
CCF