Thursday - Three Gorges Dam

With the short night following the long bus ride, we opted against the morning shore tour, and played games instead. After 3 breakneck days in Shanghai it felt good to lay around a bit.

In the afternoon we took a trip to the Three Gorges Dam, a huge project opened in 2003 that caused the displacement of millions of Chinese. The guide was very informative, but I wasn't sure how to assess all the carefully included proclamations of environmental responsibility, clean power, and reduction of dependence on fossil fuel. It's certainly true the dam is providing a huge supply of hydro-electric power. But the huge visitor center, and multiple escalators in the side of a mountain to lure thousands to view seemed a bit over the top.

The guide seemed okay with his family being relocated in advance of their town being flooded by the reservoir, particularly since the new apartment has indoor plumbing.

Some fun phrases from the day:
"Happy room revolution"
(Western style toilets becoming increasingly commonplace)
"Maybe later market"
(Departing for an outing, the vendors knew we would be headed back by their booths at the conclusion and called "maybe later" as farewell.)

Sunday-Monday in Shanghai

Though after arriving at 4 pm on Sunday we had already been awake for 17 hours (but for a little plane dozing), we rallied to spend the evening with my cousin Rosie and her husband Tommy. We had a lovely dinner of dumplings and vegetables at a local hole in the wall, grateful for their linguistic skills in ordering exotic though not scary food. Found a bakery for dessert, then fell into bed around 10, having mostly conquered jet lag in one swipe.

Monday we met our tour group and absorbed the advice to carry toilet paper and be prepared to squat. Our first stop was at a Buddhist temple, where a ceremony was ongoing. We didn't convert.

Then we went to the waterfront (The Bund), which is lined with many buildings of European origin. One side of the river is the old town (19th century) and the other side is new, all built in the last 20 years.
We had lunch with our group- another taste of Shanghai cuisine with an odd addition of those smiley French fry circles.

Joined again by Tommy and Rosemary, we walked the Nanjing road shopping district.
Then we headed for the icon of the Shanghai skyline, the oriental Pearl Tower. What we intended to be a quick trip up to the observatory turned into a 2 1/2 hour excursion as we enjoyed the 360 degree view, and tested the glass floor for durability (much to the old Chinese gawkers distress!). We saw the city by both day and night, as the sun set and the lights came up before we navigated a circuitous,multi-elevator descent.

Wanting to get our money's worth, we went through the Shanghai history museum at the base of the tower (hey, it was included in the admission!). A very detailed and exquisite recounting of the city's history - too bad we were too tired and hungry at this point to fully enjoy it.

A somewhat unsuccessful hunt for dinner followed, and we again dropped straight into bed when returning to the hotel late in the evening.

Shanghai Disney Tuesday

We spent the day at Shanghai Disney. It was neat that see a park that had just opened (June). It had lots of nice details - mosaics of princesses, ornate castle. We liked the TRON bicycle roller coaster the best. The ropes course was nice too. The day exceeded my expectations!

KATHLEEN

Pre-trip prep

A few thoughts about the big trip before it was underway...
Josie mentioned the trip to some friends and one immediately expressed concern about the whole family going. She clarified "Your parents and you AND your brother are going to China? You can't do that - they have a one child policy." Fearing we would be arrested she tried her best to talk us out of it. 😂

For those of you who remember our adventures seven years ago, I am relieved to announce that my washing machine came through this time and all of our luggage has made each leg.

Seth has been VERY excited about the whole trip - the flights, the sights, and even the chance to experience jet lag. Thankfully they have all lived up to his expectations so far.

With promises of more posts soon to come from the other travelers ...
Kathleen

Opening act

We've had 2 nice days with Maggie and her girls in Langley/Vancouver BC. Yesterday we went to Lynn Valley Canyon for some lovely hiking - though we sort of got lost and ended up much farther from our car than we intended. We survived. Apparently in BC, 100% chance of rain means "cloudy", so that was nice.

Off to the airport for our 12 hour flight!

Happy Halloween

As promised, though out of sequence, here are some pictures of Mickey and Minnie.

Seth's Baptism

It's probably bad form to post updates about Halloween and baptism in the same post, so despite the chronological discombobulation, Trick or Treating will have to wait. We have some cute pictures of the kids - I'll get them up soon.

But we were privileged this past Sunday to present Seth to God through baptism. November is National Adoption Month - declared by someone, I don't know who - so it was fun to hear a sermon about adoption as well. There was of course allusion to earthly adoption, but the main point was about our adoption by God. The sermon should be on here soon, in case you're interested:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1119092258150

The Pastor was a bit nervous about baptizing a 4-year-old (being accustomed to somewhat more compliant infants). His concern was mostly unwarranted, though Seth did pull a little limbo move, bending his torso backwards, when the Pastor came at him with the water.

Happy Adoption Day

As I was looking on the internet for the lyrics to this song, I came across a review of it (or at least of the book depicting the song) that deemed it hokey and shallow. I suppose there may have been a day in my life when I shared that sentiment, but today is not that day.

I might quibble with ol' Mr. McCutcheon over a word here and there, if only for theological precision. But other than that, I think he hit it pretty well spot on.

Happy Adoption Day - words and music by John McCutcheon

Oh, who would have guessed, who could have seen
Who could have possibly known
All these roads we have traveled, the places we’ve been
Would have finally taken us home

And it's here’s to you, and three cheers to you
Let’s shout it, “Hip, hip, hip, hooray!”
For, out of a world so tattered and torn,
You came to our house on that wonderful morn
And all of a sudden this family was born
Oh, Happy Adoption Day!

There are those who think families happen by chance
A mystery their whole life through
But we had a voice and we* had a choice
We were working and waiting for you

So no matter the name, no matter the age
No matter how you came to be
No matter the skin, we are all of us kin
We are all of us one family


It is evidence either of my well-hidden softness or of my own parochial perspective that having made this last Friday night, I have already watched it dozens of times and still get a lump in my throat or a catch in my breath every time. I praise God that a world so tattered and torn could bring forth such a joyful event, a joyful soul.

Video: Josie in China

Kathleen had this idea to take a lot of pictures specifically of Josie on our trip, and then put them together to make a still-shot video. We didn't quite get the cacophonous, percussive effect we envisioned, in part due to Josie's preference for Chinese children's songs, but she likes it, and while didn't have the advanced technique to get the audio of Seth singing these songs, we do hear them periodically, especially the first one.

Open House

It's all about the cake. Well, maybe not, but that's where the good pictures are.

We haven't had rain in weeks, and then when you're having 60 people over, of course it rains! No big deal though; it was good to see people, some of whom were meeting Seth for the first time.

No, the kids didn't wear pajamas to the party, but the last picture seemed too cute not to share.

The First Visitors

My mom and sister came to visit over Labor Day weekend. We took a 6-person surrey (bike) ride at the downtown canal, complete with some wrong turns and dead ends. Trust me, that thing is hard to turn around. Our visitors also gave Kathleen and me the opportunity to go out to dinner (hey, grandma's not a baby-sitter!)

I think Seth has made a mental transition with regard to language. Twice in the last week, we have arranged opportunities for him to talk in Chinese to someone he knows - another child from his orphanage in fact. And both times - once in person and once on the phone - he has been quite uninterested. We met a family from Bloomington at a park last Saturday and had a picnic together. They brought their 6-year-old home a month earlier than we brought Seth. The two boys had a moment of recognition (we think!), but didn't seem to want to talk to each other. They played just fine on the playground together, along with each family's one older child, but didn't converse.

Then mid-week, we called another family from our travel group, who adopted a boy about a year older than Seth. The boys spent all 18 days we were traveling together, but again Seth wasn't chatty. So maybe I'm reading too much into that, but I wonder if he's thinking "hey, I thought I was supposed to be learning English - why are you trying to get me to go back to Chinese?" Not that developed a thought, obviously, but he seems conflicted.

On a related note, we're going through what we trust is a temporary mellowing of his personality. We don't get the dancing wiggle much right now, and the verbal expressiveness, although it was not understandable to us, is sadly rarer. But his understanding and responsiveness is clearly growing quickly; he responds to many directions now even without accompanying gestures from us, and now answers some questions rather than just repeats them back. He's also learned to say excuse me (which sounds like "Josie me") and I'm sorry, both of which are exceedingly good to hear!

The First Week Home

Our strategy going in (May, June, July...) was to make sure we didn't overwhelm Seth when we first got home.  We figured he'd have enough to deal with, considering language, cuisine, time change, unfamiliar surroundings and people, and processing his loss, just to name a few.  However, in the first 9 days, we've been greeted by a large group at the airport, and been to a concert at Conner Prairie, church on Sunday both weeks, a softball game followed by a pizza party, a home-school field trip to the Children's Museum, a visit to my office, lots of playing with neighbor kids, a trip to meet K's violin teacher, 2 doctor's appointments, an ice-cream social, a visit with a senior couple in Franklin, a trip to the grocery store, a visit from our adoption social worker, and visits with friends in Anderson and Muncie.  Other than that, we've just been sitting around.

So what gives?  Are we just really poor planners?  Do we have a missing synapse that causes us to neglect all pre-considered notion?  I'd say it's more like changing a plan when that makes sense.  Seth's adaptability and good-natured response to each thing has given us permission to do another.  Additionally, the occasional slow day has actually been more challenging than the busy ones.

So we've enjoyed introducing him to different people, and he exhibits the same charm here as he did in China (albeit less verbally).  For the first week. he slept all night most nights, is eating well now, and is usually happy.  We'd love to know what he's thinking and saying, but there are small advances on that front too.  He mimics a lot of what we say, and has a few more English words in his arsenal too.

Overall he's coping very well, but mind you, he certainly has 4-year-old moments.  We definitely have "what is he going to do next moments", wondering if it will involve hitting, kicking, or yelling.   He's been up more in the night the last several nights, and hasn't been going to sleep in the evening as easily.

We're not into any routine yet - no surprise there - but it's an unsettled existence right now.  Communicating overrides everything.  The elephant in the room.

Oh, Nancy, recognize the helmet? No, book-reading hasn't become a full contact sport at our house just yet, but getting him to take the helmet off after a bike ride is. Sure kid, wear it as long as you like.

Photos

Here are all 450+ photos from our trip.

Rats, looks like you need a Snapfish account to view them - sorry, that shouldn't be too hard to create.

Now Shutterfly too

Swimming at the Cube

Sureptitous video shot of Kathleen swimming at the Water Cube in Beijing.

Dancing on the Bed

Video from our hotel in Beijing.

Great Wall Cable Car

This video is from our trip to the Great Wall on August 8. Seth greatly enjoyed the ride.

And finally, home

After 26 hours (or 39, if you start with the ride to the train station the night before), we made it through Hong Kong, Tokyo and Detroit, and made it home. Wouldn't it figure, but the only train, plane or automobile the whole trip that was late by any significant margin was the final one from Detroit to Indy. We were blessed with hot food and greetings from the neighbors, signs on the door from friends at church, and a great welcoming committee at the airport from friends in Franklin.

We were all up at 5 this morning, so we'll work on sleep schedules next!

Adoption

Those of you in our church family may recall that on the Sunday before we left for China, there were a few parts of the service that were very meaningful to me. I told some of you that I was glad we are new in that church, so I wouldn't think that someone was planning that for us, but that God had put that in place.

One was a Psalm assuring us we have nothing to fear. What can mortal man do to me? Perhaps that is why I'm not a nervous Nellie about documents, or much of anything else, for that matter. Not confidence in myself, but in Him.

The other was a section of catechism that we read on adoption.

"What is adoption? Adoption is an act of the free grace of God, in and for his only Son Jesus Christ, whereby all those that are justified are received into the number of his children, have his name put upon them, the Spirit of his Son given to them, are under his fatherly care and dispensations, admitted to all the liberties and privileges of the sons of God, made heirs of all the promises, and fellow heirs with Christ in glory."

To be able in such a meager and lowly way to mimic here in China what our Lord did for us is somewhat staggering. Christ says to us, today and forever, I chose you. We say to Seth, today and always, we chose you. Christ chooses to love us. We choose to love Seth. Christ chooses to discipline and shape us, and we likewise Seth. We will never live up to His perfect example, but we are honored to in turn be chosen to do this choosing, to nurture one lost soul towards heaven's gates.

I want to commend this journey to you all. It largely stinks, mind you. The prying, the waiting, the paying, the changing, the lying, the inconveniencing, the waiting again. I'd be happy to offer some advice on taking other tactical roads than we did, but as we always knew they would, while the trees are still there, they pale to the beauty of the forest, and the filthy means are, while not justified in the end, fade to black.

We know that Seth's adoption is just the latest in a long, long line of others. We applaud those that have gone before: Laverne and Louise, the Fentons, the Jarboes, the Bantas, the Malkuses, the Dupees, the Mengles, the Bennies, the Hites, the Sanfords, and the many thousands of others. This particular adoption is perhaps unique only to us, but thank you for supporting us in it, and making Seth feel special.

This is probably the final report from the Redland. Tomorrow we take the oath at the US Consulate to care for Seth as our flesh and blood, as if we need such banalaties to ensure as much. Then we hop a train to Hong Kong, find a cab to an airport hotel, catch a quick nap, and arise early for the homeward semi-circum-navigation.

I've gotten rather wordy; my apologies. I hope you have gotten a small glimpse into our journey through these pages. Know that we have greatly enjoyed reading your comments as well. I've tried to avoid a simple we did this, then we did that, recap of our trip, but for whatever boring lowlights I included, thanks for slogging through (or congrats for skimming over!). We look forward to seeing all of you very soon!

Statues

Around the island, there are dozens of these statues, showing kids, families, animals, etc. We had fun taking pictures today.

We've also enjoyed long afternoons in the pool. No photography allowed there either, for some bizarre unknown reason. I'll see if I can sneak a few shots tomorrow. I'm growing weary of looking over my shoulder.

River Cruise

Last night we had a lovely time on the Pearl River. The cruise was about an hour and a half. While the food served appealed only to the native Asian in our family, we all enjoyed the nice breeze and views of the city lights.