4pm Friday (our time)
We have in our possession the certificate of adoption that says we are the parents of Kara Kimiko Froisland! She is legally ours as of this afternoon. And since she is a Froisland now, she has decided to act like a Froisland. Now that her walking is getting better, that’s all she wants to do. She has decided to become a very busy little girl. You all can pray for me now since those who don’t even know Micah say, “You are going to have your hands full when you get home!” She protests loudly when she is not able to walk (like when we are taking those loooooong drives) or does not have food in her mouth as soon as she wants it.
Tomorrow is the Great Wall tour and an hour and a half drive (ugh). It’s going to be interesting. We have to try to climb the wall with a two year old (can’t take the stroller) and we left the baby frontback at home. Bad move.
Fun translation quote of the day: (from the Beijing orphanage pamphlet) “This is where the children with cerebal palsy can receive daycare, prevention and health care, disinfection and growth monitoring services.” Gotta disinfect those babies!
BTW, I learned to say “Ting bu dong” which means “I don’t understand.” I’m going to try it out today when we go to the Hypermarket since people will speak Chinese to me. I learned today that throwing your hands up in the “I don’t know” position is not a Chinese gesture. Now I know that people think I’m crazy when not only do I not respond when spoken to, but I start gesticulating like a lunatic. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Scary Beijing moment
Ni zao (good morning)! It is almost 6am on Friday for us. James is off running the stairs (I’ve already walked them), which is not a stairmaster, but the stairwell next to our room. The hotel has 27 floors, but it is really 25 floors as the 13th and 14th floor are non-existent. We’re guessing 13th is for Americans, 14th because the number 4 is bad luck in Chinese (but we have a 4th floor and a 24th floor, must have been easier to just have two floors in a row disappear).
Today is another scheduled day consisting of applying for Kara’s passport and completing our adoption registration. That will take us past lunch today. Part of the reason things take so long is because of the time it takes to get anywhere. We asked how long it will take to get to the governmental office we’ll visit today. Our guide, Joy, said “45 minutes, but 10 minutes with no traffic.” Well, we have yet to see the mythical “no traffic.” By the way it’s supposed to be 100 plus degrees today, with a billion percent humidity (seriously, I’m sure that’s what the weather channel would say).
Kara has been laughing more and seems to find walking almost freeing. She walks with her legs wide apart and falls quite a bit. At one point when we were in our room she would walk from one end to the other, back and forth. I was her usual point of reference as she would walk toward me laughing and then walk away and come back and repeat the process. We enjoyed that quite a bit and felt that maybe she was really comfortable with us…until we got to the lobby (insert “dum tee dum tee dummmmmmmm”).
As we were trying to Skype the kids from the lobby, a lady sitting near us started to talk to Kara in Chinese. That set Kara off. She started to cry and wriggle out of our arms and then went to the other lady. The lady scooped her up and promptly walked off with her. We knew she wasn’t stealing her as the gal was part of some conference at the hotel. But still, there went our baby who was then passed to another lady! We felt helpless as Kara seemed to be comforted by them. She finally came back to us, but was clearly stressed by the whole situation. We talked to our guide about it and she said that Kara is probably very confused and wants to go back to what she knows (which is the orphanage). Confidence level…descending…rapidly…..
Thankfully we were able to rent a stroller (which she enjoyed) and be off to exchange money at the bank. As an aside, the whole deal with the crisp clean 100s is no joke. One of the dads here tried to exchange one bill that was crisp, but had the tiniest pen mark on it that he never saw until it was pointed out to him (as it was being rejected).
So our scary Beijing moment...
We decided to venture out to go to another store which is supposed to be like a WalMart. I wanted to get Kara shoes that fit (and did not squeak) and our friendly local market (called Hypermarket, mind you) did not carry any (but it carries plenty of “love fish” which I guess is just dried fish…that you love?). We went with Pat, a grandma that came with one of the families. We brought a card that had the name of our destination on it as well as the hotel name and address. Another card we had included a map of how to get to the hotel. We did our shopping at this store which was like WalMart on psychedelic drugs. We ate at Pizza Hut (we got a normal pizza instead of venturing out and getting the one with octopus) and then tried to get a taxi to come back. Did you get the “tried” part? When we’d finally get a taxi to pull over, the driver would shake his head “no” when James would show him the hotel card. So here we are far from our hotel, sweating profusely in the oppressive heat, carrying our baby, and it is almost 9pm. As the third taxi refused us, a guy pulls up in a car and motions that he can drive us. He has stickers on his windshield that make me think that maybe he’s a hired driver of some sort, but how can we know? He offers to take us for 30 yuan (we paid 18 to get to the store). We say no, and then are promptly refused by a fourth taxi. The driver has stuck around and watched us getting refused and makes his offer again. Taking our proverbial chances, and out of desperation, we agree to go with the guy. I am of course praying like crazy that we will not be driven into an alley and be robbed for being goofy Americans (and me for not knowing Chinese when clearly I should!). I am sweating it (literally and figuratively). Ah, but lo and behold, we spot our hotel. Hip hip hooray! We said “good job” and James patted him on the back, which made him laugh. So the guy went from being a psychotic serial killer to being a guardian angel.
BTW, I got the 411 on the non-stop eating thing Kara was doing. Joy said that since we are strangers to Kara, she does not know if we will feed her again so she will keep eating like it’s her last meal. Joy said, as we had already figured out, that we need to stop her from eating too much. Joy also said that older kids will often hoard food for that same reason.
Okay just expect long posts from me, cause, after all, it’s from me!
And now some words from the quieter one:
Yes there are the missing 13th & 14th floors, but there are also the -1 & -2 floors as they label them. In total, 627 steps. And with the top few floors even more closed up than the rest, the temps really get oppressive there.
BTW – If you want to see Julie at a loss for words, start rattling off to her in Chinese. All she can say is “English! English!”, much to the confusion of the local populace.
Today is another scheduled day consisting of applying for Kara’s passport and completing our adoption registration. That will take us past lunch today. Part of the reason things take so long is because of the time it takes to get anywhere. We asked how long it will take to get to the governmental office we’ll visit today. Our guide, Joy, said “45 minutes, but 10 minutes with no traffic.” Well, we have yet to see the mythical “no traffic.” By the way it’s supposed to be 100 plus degrees today, with a billion percent humidity (seriously, I’m sure that’s what the weather channel would say).
Kara has been laughing more and seems to find walking almost freeing. She walks with her legs wide apart and falls quite a bit. At one point when we were in our room she would walk from one end to the other, back and forth. I was her usual point of reference as she would walk toward me laughing and then walk away and come back and repeat the process. We enjoyed that quite a bit and felt that maybe she was really comfortable with us…until we got to the lobby (insert “dum tee dum tee dummmmmmmm”).
As we were trying to Skype the kids from the lobby, a lady sitting near us started to talk to Kara in Chinese. That set Kara off. She started to cry and wriggle out of our arms and then went to the other lady. The lady scooped her up and promptly walked off with her. We knew she wasn’t stealing her as the gal was part of some conference at the hotel. But still, there went our baby who was then passed to another lady! We felt helpless as Kara seemed to be comforted by them. She finally came back to us, but was clearly stressed by the whole situation. We talked to our guide about it and she said that Kara is probably very confused and wants to go back to what she knows (which is the orphanage). Confidence level…descending…rapidly…..
Thankfully we were able to rent a stroller (which she enjoyed) and be off to exchange money at the bank. As an aside, the whole deal with the crisp clean 100s is no joke. One of the dads here tried to exchange one bill that was crisp, but had the tiniest pen mark on it that he never saw until it was pointed out to him (as it was being rejected).
So our scary Beijing moment...
We decided to venture out to go to another store which is supposed to be like a WalMart. I wanted to get Kara shoes that fit (and did not squeak) and our friendly local market (called Hypermarket, mind you) did not carry any (but it carries plenty of “love fish” which I guess is just dried fish…that you love?). We went with Pat, a grandma that came with one of the families. We brought a card that had the name of our destination on it as well as the hotel name and address. Another card we had included a map of how to get to the hotel. We did our shopping at this store which was like WalMart on psychedelic drugs. We ate at Pizza Hut (we got a normal pizza instead of venturing out and getting the one with octopus) and then tried to get a taxi to come back. Did you get the “tried” part? When we’d finally get a taxi to pull over, the driver would shake his head “no” when James would show him the hotel card. So here we are far from our hotel, sweating profusely in the oppressive heat, carrying our baby, and it is almost 9pm. As the third taxi refused us, a guy pulls up in a car and motions that he can drive us. He has stickers on his windshield that make me think that maybe he’s a hired driver of some sort, but how can we know? He offers to take us for 30 yuan (we paid 18 to get to the store). We say no, and then are promptly refused by a fourth taxi. The driver has stuck around and watched us getting refused and makes his offer again. Taking our proverbial chances, and out of desperation, we agree to go with the guy. I am of course praying like crazy that we will not be driven into an alley and be robbed for being goofy Americans (and me for not knowing Chinese when clearly I should!). I am sweating it (literally and figuratively). Ah, but lo and behold, we spot our hotel. Hip hip hooray! We said “good job” and James patted him on the back, which made him laugh. So the guy went from being a psychotic serial killer to being a guardian angel.
BTW, I got the 411 on the non-stop eating thing Kara was doing. Joy said that since we are strangers to Kara, she does not know if we will feed her again so she will keep eating like it’s her last meal. Joy said, as we had already figured out, that we need to stop her from eating too much. Joy also said that older kids will often hoard food for that same reason.
Okay just expect long posts from me, cause, after all, it’s from me!
And now some words from the quieter one:
Yes there are the missing 13th & 14th floors, but there are also the -1 & -2 floors as they label them. In total, 627 steps. And with the top few floors even more closed up than the rest, the temps really get oppressive there.
BTW – If you want to see Julie at a loss for words, start rattling off to her in Chinese. All she can say is “English! English!”, much to the confusion of the local populace.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The Wait is Over
The wait is over!
Whew, it’s been a long and exhausting day. James and I are worn out and it’s only 8pm. But across the room from me in a portable crib is the newest Froisland( to be) sleeping peacefully. Oh the bliss…
Our day started at 5am, which we thought was 6am until we realized an hour and a half later that James had set the clocks incorrectly. We left at 9am to go to the orphanage. It is a long process (and a white knuckle experience) to get anywhere on the crowded streets, and it seemed even longer as we knew what was waiting at our destination.
The orphanage is actually 2 huge buildings, one of which is primarily for special needs kids. We were led to a room to wait and to handle more paperwork. It was at that time we realized they had misspelled my name on the travel invitation (Juile) and a new one had to be issued. Thankfully, because we were in Beijing, it was not a huge issue to get a new one. (Interestingly enough, when we get home I have to mail back the travel invitation I have at home. Because it is an official document they want it back.) When we picked up the new one I was able to go into the government office that issues them. As the lady was looking over my passport and matching it with the new travel invitation, I looked on the floor and saw a huge stack of travel invitations. It was wonderful to think that each piece of paper represented another child that was going home to a family.
Waiting in the room for our babies was of course tough. We were waiting for some official to come and make a pronouncement or something, when in walked a 7 year old boy with no fanfare or warning. What a darling boy, full of smiles as he came to his new family. Now all of us were in tears watching him hug his new parents. The eagerness level was now ramped up to code level red. Our hearts went thumpity thump as we saw movement in the crack of the door. Finally, in came two little girls being carried. We were not sure at first which was Kara, but then after a closer look (and me inwardly screaming, “Can I have her pleeeeeeease?????”) I knew that the wee little thing in the white pants and yellow top and squeaky shoes (purposely so, to our dismay) was our sweet girl.
She was led to us (squeaking all the way) and tears streaming down our faces (at which she looked at us warily, for good reason) we introduced ourselves as “Mama” and “Baba.” Then we held her. Have you ever had joy fill your soul? If you’ve ever had children, you know what I’m talking about. Thank you Lord, neither of the two little ones (the other one is 16 months old and is missing part of her right foot) cried (though the 16 month old turned out to be quite the character…she would cry loudly when put down. Kids learn fast to manipulate!).
The rest of the day included getting a family photo for the adoption registration, getting a quick lunch, going to the adoption registration, and going shopping at a multi-purpose store (veeery interesting experience). James gets lots of looks as he carries around Kara. Me? I get spoken to in Chinese (hellooooo, don’t you know your own people?).
I know you all want to know what Kara is like (we call her Tongtong Kara for now). Well, she is pretty much the opposite of her “twin” brother. She eats anything we give her as she has not learned to be picky. We also think it’s a response to being institutionalized. We were told that the kids will eat tons the first 3-4 days if you let them. At one point she was drinking water from a bottle and was downing the thing. After halfway through the second one, I told James that I don’t think she knows when to stop. I don’t think she has an internal shut off valve (that we adults tend to ignore when we’re eating something really yummy). She’s also a dainty eater. I gave her some Cheerios and she took at least 3-4 bites out of each “O”. What will she do when she sees her brother Conan the barbarian seeing how big of a chunk he can stuff in his mouth before choking? Kara is also extremely quiet. She does not babble. We have heard her laugh (which sounds like the finest melody you’ve ever heard) and she has cried once (James scared her when she knocked over something and James let out a gasp). She is content to sit on our laps, be held, and sit on the floor playing with her shoes. Her walking is not the best, but she can toddle along (I made that a verb, don’t know if that’s legit). We also discovered she does not like being left alone. James was downstairs where we can get wireless access and I went into the bathroom. When I came out I passed by her to get something and she let out a tiny whimper before heading straight for me with arms held out. I’d like to think that I was of comfort to her because she knows I’m her mother, but I know that right now anyone would be of comfort to her. Hey, I’ll take this any day over her trying to get away from this stranger!
Sorry this post is so long. We also had technical difficulties so I am now finishing this at 5:30 am on Thursday. Our little one is still sleeping, poor baby. Quite a day for her yesterday. It’ll be one she will not remember, but one we will never forget.
(And now a note from the quiter & less verbose one of the couple)
Actually, I heard her make more noise. She made this cute cooing type of noise, particularly in seeing bright colors or most especially when seeing the babies on the diapers we were checking out. This is the advantage one gets when carrying this cute little bundle of Kara (remember, that means joy!). The disadvantage is aching arms and sweat pouring down one’s back. It is kind of funny being the one stared at, being given continual curious looks. That is normal when I’m walking around in Ranch 99 (a Vietnamese market in SJ), but the difference this time is the beaming smile I get from a lot of the people. Well, being the technical one of this couple (don’t laugh too hard Rick!), I guess I should hurry up and get done so I can get this loaded up, attempt to get videos loaded, and try to get the camera to work for Skype. Miss y’all!
Whew, it’s been a long and exhausting day. James and I are worn out and it’s only 8pm. But across the room from me in a portable crib is the newest Froisland( to be) sleeping peacefully. Oh the bliss…
Our day started at 5am, which we thought was 6am until we realized an hour and a half later that James had set the clocks incorrectly. We left at 9am to go to the orphanage. It is a long process (and a white knuckle experience) to get anywhere on the crowded streets, and it seemed even longer as we knew what was waiting at our destination.
The orphanage is actually 2 huge buildings, one of which is primarily for special needs kids. We were led to a room to wait and to handle more paperwork. It was at that time we realized they had misspelled my name on the travel invitation (Juile) and a new one had to be issued. Thankfully, because we were in Beijing, it was not a huge issue to get a new one. (Interestingly enough, when we get home I have to mail back the travel invitation I have at home. Because it is an official document they want it back.) When we picked up the new one I was able to go into the government office that issues them. As the lady was looking over my passport and matching it with the new travel invitation, I looked on the floor and saw a huge stack of travel invitations. It was wonderful to think that each piece of paper represented another child that was going home to a family.
Waiting in the room for our babies was of course tough. We were waiting for some official to come and make a pronouncement or something, when in walked a 7 year old boy with no fanfare or warning. What a darling boy, full of smiles as he came to his new family. Now all of us were in tears watching him hug his new parents. The eagerness level was now ramped up to code level red. Our hearts went thumpity thump as we saw movement in the crack of the door. Finally, in came two little girls being carried. We were not sure at first which was Kara, but then after a closer look (and me inwardly screaming, “Can I have her pleeeeeeease?????”) I knew that the wee little thing in the white pants and yellow top and squeaky shoes (purposely so, to our dismay) was our sweet girl.
She was led to us (squeaking all the way) and tears streaming down our faces (at which she looked at us warily, for good reason) we introduced ourselves as “Mama” and “Baba.” Then we held her. Have you ever had joy fill your soul? If you’ve ever had children, you know what I’m talking about. Thank you Lord, neither of the two little ones (the other one is 16 months old and is missing part of her right foot) cried (though the 16 month old turned out to be quite the character…she would cry loudly when put down. Kids learn fast to manipulate!).
The rest of the day included getting a family photo for the adoption registration, getting a quick lunch, going to the adoption registration, and going shopping at a multi-purpose store (veeery interesting experience). James gets lots of looks as he carries around Kara. Me? I get spoken to in Chinese (hellooooo, don’t you know your own people?).
I know you all want to know what Kara is like (we call her Tongtong Kara for now). Well, she is pretty much the opposite of her “twin” brother. She eats anything we give her as she has not learned to be picky. We also think it’s a response to being institutionalized. We were told that the kids will eat tons the first 3-4 days if you let them. At one point she was drinking water from a bottle and was downing the thing. After halfway through the second one, I told James that I don’t think she knows when to stop. I don’t think she has an internal shut off valve (that we adults tend to ignore when we’re eating something really yummy). She’s also a dainty eater. I gave her some Cheerios and she took at least 3-4 bites out of each “O”. What will she do when she sees her brother Conan the barbarian seeing how big of a chunk he can stuff in his mouth before choking? Kara is also extremely quiet. She does not babble. We have heard her laugh (which sounds like the finest melody you’ve ever heard) and she has cried once (James scared her when she knocked over something and James let out a gasp). She is content to sit on our laps, be held, and sit on the floor playing with her shoes. Her walking is not the best, but she can toddle along (I made that a verb, don’t know if that’s legit). We also discovered she does not like being left alone. James was downstairs where we can get wireless access and I went into the bathroom. When I came out I passed by her to get something and she let out a tiny whimper before heading straight for me with arms held out. I’d like to think that I was of comfort to her because she knows I’m her mother, but I know that right now anyone would be of comfort to her. Hey, I’ll take this any day over her trying to get away from this stranger!
Sorry this post is so long. We also had technical difficulties so I am now finishing this at 5:30 am on Thursday. Our little one is still sleeping, poor baby. Quite a day for her yesterday. It’ll be one she will not remember, but one we will never forget.
(And now a note from the quiter & less verbose one of the couple)
Actually, I heard her make more noise. She made this cute cooing type of noise, particularly in seeing bright colors or most especially when seeing the babies on the diapers we were checking out. This is the advantage one gets when carrying this cute little bundle of Kara (remember, that means joy!). The disadvantage is aching arms and sweat pouring down one’s back. It is kind of funny being the one stared at, being given continual curious looks. That is normal when I’m walking around in Ranch 99 (a Vietnamese market in SJ), but the difference this time is the beaming smile I get from a lot of the people. Well, being the technical one of this couple (don’t laugh too hard Rick!), I guess I should hurry up and get done so I can get this loaded up, attempt to get videos loaded, and try to get the camera to work for Skype. Miss y’all!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Letter to Kara
To my sweet girl,
Mommy and Daddy are coming to get you shortly. We have waited so long to see you and can hardly believe you will be in our arms soon! We have prayed for you and loved you before you were born. We have named you Joy because that is what you will bring to our house and to the lives of so many who have been with us on this journey.
As your adoption day approaches, I can't help but think of my adoption day. You see, I was chosen and loved just like you before I ever knew who chose me. I was not chosen because I was perfect. Like you, I have "issues" too. And yet, like you will, I became a daughter. You will be the daughter of ordinary sinners, I became the daughter of the King. You will come to trust and take comfort in our presence, as I have come to trust and take comfort in the presence of my heavenly Father. And guess what...when you come home you will have a new name. You will become Kara Kimiko Froisland. When I go to my heavenly home I will get a new name too (only mine is secret)! Of course my greatest desire is that you will be three times named and you also will become the daughter of the King.
There is a Chinese saying that "an invisible, unbreakable red thread connects all who are destined to be together." Well my love, that thread is pulling us to you. That thread has also connected you to so many who are waiting to meet you. So many wait to welcome you home. They have prayed for you for so long and can't wait to love on you.
Soon, very soon, Mommy and Daddy will be there.
Mommy and Daddy are coming to get you shortly. We have waited so long to see you and can hardly believe you will be in our arms soon! We have prayed for you and loved you before you were born. We have named you Joy because that is what you will bring to our house and to the lives of so many who have been with us on this journey.
As your adoption day approaches, I can't help but think of my adoption day. You see, I was chosen and loved just like you before I ever knew who chose me. I was not chosen because I was perfect. Like you, I have "issues" too. And yet, like you will, I became a daughter. You will be the daughter of ordinary sinners, I became the daughter of the King. You will come to trust and take comfort in our presence, as I have come to trust and take comfort in the presence of my heavenly Father. And guess what...when you come home you will have a new name. You will become Kara Kimiko Froisland. When I go to my heavenly home I will get a new name too (only mine is secret)! Of course my greatest desire is that you will be three times named and you also will become the daughter of the King.
There is a Chinese saying that "an invisible, unbreakable red thread connects all who are destined to be together." Well my love, that thread is pulling us to you. That thread has also connected you to so many who are waiting to meet you. So many wait to welcome you home. They have prayed for you for so long and can't wait to love on you.
Soon, very soon, Mommy and Daddy will be there.
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