Days 2 - Zhengzhou & Pingdingshan

We are making progress - one or two Cheerios at a time.  :-)  

In the hecticness of the morning I forgot that this was the BIG day Reed and Grace are officially ours!  In my mind they became ours the day we said yes to them.  I think we were supposed to dress up, but we were happy to get out the door with clean clothes.  :-)

Thank you so much for all of your prayers - we can certainly tell a difference and see God answering!  Yesterday morning was a bit stressful.  Grace was not very happy when she realized that we were still here, ;-) but we were able to settle her with a bottle and some snuggles from Mommy.  She doesn't quite like me yet, but she is learning to tolerate me. ;-)

Reed, on the other hand, was a very sick little guy and alarmingly lethargic.  After breakfast, as we were joining our other families my tears started to flow.  My poor husband, we had a very sick baby, a heartbroken little girl, a bundle of vomit clothing and no washing machine, and now a crying Mommy.  What a mess!  We had been told that you do not want to go to a doctor here as they will immediately put your baby into the hospital - you get no choice.  Just having that in the back of my mind added to my stress I think, in addition to having an 11 hour day ahead of us trapsing around China.

As always, the Lord took care of us and our little Reed.  We are VERY blessed to have a husband/wife team here adopting their 3rd child.  They are both doctors living in Shanghai and doing orphan care.  They were able to look at Reed and the husband ran to the pharmacy for us and get some things to help.  

I kept thinking on Psalm 16:5 - "Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup.  You have made my lot SECURE."  This was my airplane turbulence verse.  ;-)  God is in control.  Whatever happens, he has assigned it.  My lot is secure.  I can be peaceful.  As Elisabeth Elliot says, "Our enemy delights in disquieting us.  Our Savior and Helper delights in quieting us."  How simple!

I am so thankful for Travis and his skills (as well as being the strong one here!).  He took meticulous care of Reed throughout the day, finding that balance of trying to keep him hydrated and get a little bit of nutrition into him, without making him even sicker.  

The Lord was very merciful.  Despite having to be on buses and in and out of public buildings all day, we were blessed to have our first air conditioned bus.  (We were thrilled as it is in the high 90's!)  I was able to sit and just snuggle Grace for hours while Travis worked with Reed.  

Our first stop was the same office we recieved our children in yesterday.  I thought it would be very difficult for Grace, but she did great.  She sat on my lap the entire time and kept her eyes intently locked on the front door, but I just rubbed her back and talked quietly to her.  I am quite sure she was looking for her nanny to return.

We were supposed to pay a $500 fee at that stop, but after a long wait our rep came out and said "No fee today only.  They are raising the price and can't agree on what to charge you, so they charge you nothing."!!!  As Travis said, the Lord continues to provide.

Reed perked up.  :-)

Caleb and Mason have been amazing helpers, not only for us, but for many of the other families as well.  They helped to entertain Lily (a sweet little 4 year old who has hydorcephelus and had a second head.  They say she is a miracle, as she was not expected to live.) and played with Jay - an 8 year old with Spina Bifida.  He doesn't know any English, but is proably the most cheerful child I have ever met!  By the end of the day Reed was definitely beginning to improve.

We traveled to Grace's hometown of Pingdingshan, but were not allowed to visit the orphanage. We've been told that the conditions there are "terrible".  No one would ever want their child to be sick, but we are so thankful she was, as this is most likely the reason she was transferred to her wonderful foster home in Shanghai.  The orphanages are often not equipped to care for the sicker babies and send them to foster homes to be cared for instead.

We returned to our hotel after 8pm and Travis went out in search of some dinner.  Grace played quite happily and even acknowledged Reed for the first time.  She is no longer reaching for every Chinese person we see.  We are making progress!  A housekeeper came in to try and help clean up some of the sick mess and she sat on the bed.  (The first day we had to take her into the bathroom and close the door so she wouldn't want to leave with them.  ;-)  For real.  The housekeeper did put out her arms to Reed and he turned away and started crying, so I loved being able to scoop him up and comfort him.

She's warming up!  Especially when Mommy is the only one in the room.

Despite the helplessness I felt this morning, I ended the day with Proverbs  running in my mind - "He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."  What rich truth.  Even being physically exhausted I was completely refreshed.  It's been such joy to comfort and care for these babies.  We are so blessed and thankful that God choose them for us!