Consulate Day

Today was our "Swearing In" day. All the new parents from all the different agencies went to the US Consulate in Guangzhou and stood in line to get our Visa papers for our new children. Then, we all made a short oath promising that everything we said and did during the adoption was true. There were about 50 families going through this process today. They said about 8,000 families are processed through Guangzhou for Chinese adoptions to the US each year. Incredible, isn't it?!

Tomorrow, Amelia will travel to the US on her Chinese passport and a US immigrant visa. Once she is processed in through her port of entry, she becomes a naturalized citizen of the United States. She can never be President of the United States because she wasn't born here, but other than that, she will have all the rights and privileges of every other US citizen.

Amelia was a little out of sorts today, and even threw her first big temper tantrum. I had to take a photo! I am happy to report that I did not give in (she wanted to eat chips and we were on our way to lunch), and she soon sat up and acted like a big girl. Boy, oh boy, aren't 2-year-olds FUN???!!! We are so excited and ready to bring Amelia home to meet all our family and friends. We leave tomorrow and will see you on the "other" side - which we hope is the USA and not the "other side" as in the Heavenly Gates!!! :) Just kidding. All will be well, and we will see you soon.

Love you,
Amy, Amelia, Mike & Sara

Our last 2 days in Guangzhou

This is a "double" post - a recap of our last 2 days in Guangzhou before we have our swearing in ceremony at the US Consulate and head out of town and back to the USA. We have mostly been shopping, touring the island, shopping, playing with Amelia, shopping...did I mention shopping?

In the middle of it all, I have completed mounds of paperwork - yes, there is still more to be done even after you are holding your new child! - and enjoying the playroom at the White Swan Hotel. We received our "Coming Home Barbie" today. It is a white Barbie mom holding a Chinese baby. No, that it not a joke!!! You get one if you stay at the White Swan Hotel to complete your adoption journey. The baby isn't really Chinese, though, because it is not wearing 49 layers of clothing, HAHA.

Amelia has been coming out of her shell more each day. She laughs and plays. She likes the White Swan toy room. She has let Sara hold her a few times, but Papa still only gets kisses when she is sleeping (shhh...don't tell her!).

We are missing our Spicy Sichuan cuisine - yummy and cheap. The food here is pricier and not nearly as tasty. We are enjoying having clean laundry, though! The laundry is cheap and well done. We need a laundry service like this at home! Wait, it's called "me." :)

There is a photography studio here on the island, so we have seen lots of couples having their wedding photographs made. The dresses are beautiful. We also have seen many school children and families. We enjoy just walking around and watching everyday life unfold.

We found a coffee shop - not Starbucks, but still tasty. Amelia kept asking for a sip of my drink. In all my motherly wisdom (NOT!), I though "she won't like my hazelnut decaf latte" so I let her have a sip. Well, guess what? She LOVED it. She wanted to drink the entire beverage. Thank goodness I ordered decaf. On the bright side, it's the only milk I have been able to get down her in 2 weeks. I don't feel too bad about it.

We cannot take the child into a store without her wanting to buy snacks. Her favorite thing is Cheetos, but Cheerios will do. She also downed 3 bananas in one sitting the other day. She is too much! Granted, they were small bananas, but still.... YIKES. I am going to have to get a second job just to feed this child. We love to watch her laugh and play. She bought a new cell phone and purse at the store yesterday, and they are her new favorite things!

One more day until we get to come HOME!
Love,
Amy, Amelia, Mike & Sara

Church in China!

What a day! Though I have been to China twice before, I have never been permitted to openly worship in a Christian church with Chinese believers. Today, I had that opportunity.

Oh my, just walking in the place made me feel like I was on Holy Ground. My brothers and sisters in China were there. My dad was there. My sister in the Lord, Sara, was there. And for the first time ever, I held my child in the House of the Lord.

The singing was beautiful and the words spoken were very moving. They sang "God Will Make a Way". The words say, "God will make a way, when there seems to be no way. He works in ways we cannot see. He will make a way for me. He will be my Guide, hold me closely to His side. With strength and love for each new day, He will make a way...He will make a way."

I began to weep as I thought about Amelia and her life thus far. Born to parents who must have felt there was "no way;" left as a tiny baby at five days old in front of a store; found by a worker and turned into the police; taken to an orphanage where she was assigned to a foster family; reared with love by that family until she was handed to me, a stranger, and taken away from her homeland forever.

Yet, in all of this, God HAS made a way for Amelia. He made a way for her to live. He made a way for her to be loved and cared for during the past 2 years. He made a way for me to come to China and become a mother - something I never could have fathomed. He made a way for this little child to come to this country and have a permanent family who loves her, opportuntities she might never have had, and most importantly, He made a way for her to know Him.

My precious child, God has made a way when there seemed to be no way. He has done it for me in the past, and I have no doubt He will do it again. This is the God we serve - the God who loves you, who intends for you a future and a hope.

Our first full day in Guangzhou

Today was our first full day in Guangzhou. It is warm here and much more Western. We are already missing Chengdu! We loved it there so much. Guangzhou us nice, but very different.

Amelia had her medical exam today. The doctor said he heard a faint heart murmur. He said if her heart were in very bad shape, he would expect a worse-sounding murmur, so I took that as very good news. Other than that, Amelia was very healthy. She HATED the examination, though. She does not like to be touched by strangers!

After that, we took our laundry to be done. It is very cheap to have laundry done here, so we took a bunch of it. We also hit the stores. They have lots of souvenirs for purchase here - lovely things for not much money. I have also been shopping for some traditional Chinese outfits for Amelia to grow into, and of course, squeaky shoes! Amelia really liked the red squeaky shoes we bought. She is all about shoes!

She also loves to shop. She likes to hand over the money and hold the bags. She is a good shopper. We ate lunch at Lucy's (Western food!) and then headed out for - yes - more shopping. That's about all we can do here while we wait for paperwork to be done. Oh, well. Just force me to shop!!! We enjoyed the scenery and had a good day overall!

We are ready to come home. Hugs to our family and friends.
Amy, Amelia, Mike & Sara

Good-bye, Chengdu; Hello, Guangzhou!

It was very emotional for me, leaving Amelia's home province. Though I have every intention of bringing her back here someday, the reality is that she will never again "belong" here. She will be an American. She won't know the language. She won't know the family she loved for 2 years. This place will, in short time, be unfamiliar to her. I realize, though, that we must leave this behind for her new life to begin. I hope that I have memorized the sounds and smells and feelings well enough to be able to impart to her my love for this city and for China in general.

Onto the plane ride! Well, except for a small meltdown about the seatbelt, Amelia made it through her first airplane ride like a seasoned traveler. She did great. She especially loved that we got to eat on the plane. This child enjoys a meal. She was very nervous in the airport with all the extra people around, but she did beautifully once we were settled into our seats. The flight was only a couple of hours, and then we arrived in sunny, balmy Guangzhou.

Guangzhou is much warmer than Chengdu and is coastal city. There were palm trees everywhere. It is also much more Western than Chengdu. This city doesn't feel as much like "China" to me, so I am already missing the China I love a little bit. Dad, I think, was happy to see a restaurant where he could order a hamburger and fries and even a store he recognized. Yep, Papa found the 7-11!

Papa also decided it was high time test for "Burchness" by giving Amelia ice cream. All Burches love ice cream. It's just a "Burch" thing. Great-Grandpa Burch used to crank it out in his ice cream maker, and we would enjoy concocting flavors. There was no tutti-fruity available here in Guangzhou, so Papa decided to test the drumstick.

Amelia passed the ice cream test, and at one point, was eating both her and Sara's ice cream cones. We are calling it an early night tonight and look forward to exploring Shamian Island, where we are staying at the White Swan Hotel, more tomorrow.

Good night,
Amy, Amelia, Mike & Sara

Happy Thanksgiving from ChengDu!

We are all feeling a little blue today. We are really missing our family and friends. I guess knowing it is Thanksgiving and that you are all going to be getting up, watching the Macy's parade, eating turkey, visting with one another, playing games, etc., is making us miss you more. We feel a little bad because we know if we miss you that much and we know what is happening, Amelia must be even more sad missing her foster family and not understanding what is happening.

It's rainy and cold here today, and Grandpapa is not feeling very well. He stayed behind at the hotel, while Sara, the Chunster, and I headed out for a little walking (covered mall) and some Starbucks (of course). Amelia likes to shop! She's not as much into the browsing as she is into the money transaction. She likes to watch me take out money and count money and pay the salesclerks. She finds business transactions very exciting. After walking and shopping several hours away (hey, you can only stay in a hotel room with a 2 yr old for so long, people!), we made our way to our local McDonald's. Amelia declined the filet-o-fish sandwich, but did feed Mama a french fry. We deciced to go with burgers for Thanksgiving dinner and skipped the fried green bean pie.

Back in the hotel room, we played and colored some more. Amelia had smiles and laughs today (but still none for Papa!). Tomorrow, we leave Chengdu for Guangzhou, where we finalize Amelia's immigration paperwork so that she will be cleared to come to the US.

We miss you all and love you and can't wait to come home!
Amy, Amelia, Mike & Sara

All Things Bright and Beautiful

Today, we figured out what Amelia has been saying when she is sad - "dow wa" -"hold me" - GOOD, we were already doing that!! Poor sweet girl. We also finally had some successful la ba bas (poops). This was funny to me: I thought she was using the word "baba" for her water bottle. Apparently, she meant she needed to go big bathroom. So, everytime she was asking me to take her to use the restroom, I was handing her a water bottle. Poor Amelia!! She must have thought "what does this woman want me to do with this water bottle???"


Today's exciting outing was to the Chengdu Panda Research Base outside of ChengDu. Sichuan Province is one of only two places where pandas are still found in the wild. The majority of panda research is conducted here in Sichuan Province. They are very proud of their pandas, and in fact, you can smoke anywhere in China, but not here at the panda base, because it isn't good for the pandas' health. No, that is not a joke!

Amelia loved the pandas, but she kept calling them "lao" - tiger. She laughed and smiled and munched her cheetos the whole time. This kid enjoys a snack!! Sara has started calling her "the snack shack" because she always wants a snack.

The sign at the panda base made me very sad. It says "All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful." And then it stops. For those of you who don't know, there is a last line. It reads "Our Lord GOD made them all." It made me very sad to be in this beautiful place where nature is being honored, but that the Creator goes unknown and unacknowledged. Oh, how we pray for our Chinese friends to come to know the Creator God who loves them!

We ended the night by touring another wonderful street with lots of local flavor. We ate noodles, spicy potatoes and shopped. We then grabbed a pedicab back to the hotel. They strapped our stroller right on the back of the bicycle cab - we love the pedicab!! Can we get those in West Texas?!

Good night from Chengdu,
Amy, Amelia, Mike & Sara