Letters from China Pt. 3

Hey all!

 

Thank you for your encouragement! It has been a whirlwind couple of days laced with bittersweet moments and fatigue. 

 

Monday night he slept and slept, solidly through the night. We woke up Tuesday morning and hit the ground running. We visited the notary for documents then headed back to the registrars office, where the hand-off was on Monday. Cairo definitely was aware of the fact that this was the place he was given to us and was not happy. We calmed him down just in time to be shoved before the judge and take our parental "vows". All in all the process took 30 seconds. 

 

 

 

After receiving our documentation we rushed back to the hotel for a little lunch and then boarded a van with another couple for Cairo's hometown, 2.5 hrs away. Mercifully, he slept the whole way.

 

Once we arrived we waited an hour in line at the cold "DMV" to apply for his passport, which again took about 5 minutes by the time we reached the counter. We waited another 30 minutes while our translator dropped off our "gifts" to the police chief. We then boarded the bus again for a short drive to the orphanage to take pictures outside the gate. 

 

Little did we know, when we arrived at the orphanage they invited us in! (We really had to go to the bathroom and the other dad on the trip pushed pretty hard to get us to one). We were NOT supposed to be able to go inside the orphanage (everyone is stunned they allowed us in). 

 

 

Not only this, but the director of the orphanage came out immediately and scooped up Cairo, holding him in her arms nearly the entire time we were there. This was extremely emotional for me, as we realized prayers for loving kindness were answered in this woman. It was clear that Cairo was her special pet. She talked freely with him, hugged him, carried him, instructed him and preened him. She clearly loved him. She dusted off his coat and one caregiver noted his lack of shoes (I had just changed his diaper in the van and left his shoes off to take the quick picture, ha!) They all thought that both boys were under dressed and their hands were too cold. If only we'd known we were going to see everyone! We would have had them dressed and cleaned. As it was we had been traveling and attending meetings for 8 hours already. We were not in the best shape to say the least.

 

 

 

The way home from his city he was very quiet and cuddly. It was clear he had been told not to take the paci we'd given him and he spit it out several times. He also took wipes and cleaned his coat thoroughly. He pretended to "take care" of an imaginary hurt on my arm and eventually accepted the paci and fell asleep.

 

That night's sleep was difficult, he slept with me most of the night, clinging to me whenever he woke up. Obviously the trip to the orphanage signaled to him that his life was changing forever. 

 

Lack of sleep and an intense schedule left us all cranky and tired yesterday. He is firey and knows what he wants and our lack of communication ability frustrates him terribly. We are also adjusting to having a big kid who cannot walk and becomes rigid when carried. While he'll often relax into us, his muscles are very tense from the waist down and makes carrying a 30lb toddler feel like we are carrying a 50lb big kid.

 

He slept very well last night from 5pm until 5am. We also slept a lot better and have been able to translate several phrases to communicate more readily, though keeping Mandarin in our heads is nearly impossible!

 

Please pray for our emotional and physical well-being as we are all adjusting. We are falling into a rhythm of relationship which is encouraging, but it is clear Cairo doesn't fully understand he is staying with us forever.

 

We leave his city today and fly (yikes) 2.5 hours to another city for his medical exam tomorrow and then our visa appointment on Monday. Please pray for these appointments and all of our stamina.

 

Pray also that the Holy Spirit will flood us with the ability to understand each other especially when his legs hurt or he needs comforting. I am praying often for the gift of tongues!

 

We miss you guys and can't wait to get back to our regular rhythm. Pray that our hearts would be content here while we wait. We are getting a little bit of "claustrophobia" knowing we have a week left before we can get home and be together as a family.

We'll try to update again soon!