Now We're Movie Stars!

Last night we managed to get some full belly laughs  out of his little one, she has the cutest dimples. She laughed full out when a balloon popped ...well it went pfft!  She went to bed much easier than I anticipated. We sat in front of the big window and watched the cars and busses and I hummed some songs and after awhile I heard her snores. It took two tries to get her to bed. She didn't want to sleep with me. This morning after breakfast... more surprises there, she can use a spoon very well to shovel her mixture of congee and noodles. the spoons they use here are serving spoons to us, but she knew just how to get the food in there and we only had a napkin for a bib! She ate a whole hard boiled egg, noodles, congee, and of course water melon and hami-gua. Then we were off to the Civil Affairs office, she fell asleep on the way must have been the full belly and the fact that her GI system is staying on schedule- I was informed that she has a BM after breakfast- she was right on time! Guess who has potty training on her mind?
Anyway we walked into the same office where we met her on Monday, as we walked in there were a bunch of people with cameras in there and  they told our guid to take us out to the elevator again and have us walk in again. They are filming something for the CCCWA. We were to come in and have a seat and 'relax' and act like we would normally with 2 movie cameras aimed at us!  Well Miss QuanQuan rose to the occasion, feeding mama bits of cracker, laughing and acting generally very sweet. The lady that brought her to us yesterday was there and Shekinah didn't even give her a second glance. Mrs. Wei tried to pick her up and she wanted nothing to do with her. Sort of insulted the lady. Anyway, somewhere out there, there is a bit of film   -half hours worth of our adoption registration proceedings...another family was adopting a little boy today too, but we didn't get to talk.

Now it is time for a nap for little 'un  Oh, and the pic of her laughing was just taken a minute ago!  Thanks again for all your prayers.

Chris Weaver
www.shallrunandnotbeweary.blogspot.com

Meeting QuanQuan

No we didn't change her name..but for now she is QuanQuan. As you can see by the  pictures she was not real impressed with me, even when I gave her a lollipop I was OK for the gift, but don't pick me up! She was calling for her foster mother/grandmother and it was heartbreaking to hear. Her little voice is hoarse, not sure if it was before or it is only because she cried a lot today. She is one of the cutest two year olds that I know! After a nap this afternoon...we managed that by going shopping in mama's front pack. She loves to shop! and carried her own bags home even if she was sound asleep. No pictures, we were SHOPPING!
She can just about do anything she needs to with those little fingers including pick up 2-3 Cheerios at a time.  

She cries so much when we go into the elevator, not sure if that is when she saw Ni-Ni for the last time, cause that is who she calls for.

Chris Weaver
www.shallrunandnotbeweary.blogspot.com

Day#2

Today proved to be another beautiful day in Beijing. Started out cloudy,but was just warm enough to only need a sweater. We started our day at Tianamen Square. It was still beautifully decorated for Oct 1 National Holiday...Lots of $$ on flowers!  It was FULL of people, i was actually glad I didn't have any children with me. We seriously almost had a shoving match in order to get down a section of steps in order to get out of the way for others to come up...Had to teach Cari to elbow like a Chinese. She's learning. Our guide told us we are too timid.
Then we walked through the Forbidden City, saw a section I hadn't seen before- the living area of the royal family, much more interesting than the royal meeting rooms etc.
The best part of the tour today was the Hutong rickshaw tour, through the old alleys. There are a bunch of people making money off the tourists, but it was still fun. "Authentic" homes -old Beijing...even experienced a traffic jam w/ a bunch of bikes and one car, even had a traffic warden and some British tourist stating that "we must cawl the police." 
BTW those of you that were in Beijing with us in 2006 will recognize the hotel picture, didn't get to see the one we stayed at in 2010 though.
Then it was off to the airport, poor Cari could not stay awake in the van and was sagging in a chair while the guide helped me check in. Put her to bed the minute we got in the room.
There is a crib in our room....we meet Shekinah at 10:30 in the AM, leaving the hotel at 9:30.

If anyone is leaving comments on my blog, I am not able to see them here...you can send them to  chris.ray.jubilee@hotmail.com

Chris Weaver
www.shallrunandnotbeweary.blogspot.com

Day # 1

A day of touring, the typical...Great Wall and Temple of Heaven.
We had the pleasure of blue skies in Beijing- a rarity,  and flowers from National Holiday. we were also touring on a Saturday, so many of the families were out with their children. they told us that one of the roads we had just vacated was being closed for a bike race this afternoon (just like Farmersville)  but in China there is no advanced warning of "traffic control"
This evening we found a small restaurant near the hotel...they served frogs legs and large intestines, but we stuck with noodles and kung pao chicken...we couldn't eat all of it..the next time we order just one dish.
Off to bed and then more touring in the AM I probably won't get to post again till just before we meet Shekinah...prayers please for the child who is about to have her life turned upside down and for the new/old mama...and the niece who is about to witness this whole adoption proceedings

Chicago Airport

   Oct 13? I think. After 24 hours of travel yesterday I'm not really sure what day it is. The 6 hour layover in Chicago was pretty bad. Don't ever try it with small children along. Cari and I about went nuts, thankfully we had books etc. Finally we had our flight called at gate K-19. I had called Xiaoqing to let her know that the projected arrival time was supposedly 1030 now. That was an hour later than we were originally told. I didn't want our guide to get tired of waiting on us and leave! We had seats in the 3^rd to last row in the plane…the back is for the stewardesses to rest and behind us was a guy that loved to talk and I don't think he slept the entire trip. But the noise of the plane pretty much drowned him out. We thought that our seats were not going to be beside each other but they ended up that way after all . Then the man next to me noticed two seats along the windows that were empty. He moved over there and Cari and I had 3 seats for our use. The flight is a mind over matter thing. You just know you have to do it and you try to put your mind in "hibernate". I did read the Readers Digest, but tried to sleep as much as possible. This time I didn't get disturbed by little people needing the bathroom or wanting to watch movies that weren't for little kids. This time the movie selection was not very good at all…only Madagascar 3 in the line of cartoons. Toward the end of the trip the Chinese man that moved over, struck up a conversation and asked why we were going to China. He was amazed that someone would choose to have 7 children. They have 2 and "that is too much".
I also saw a sort of amazing site. While we were waiting at the airport a younger Chinese lady came with a older lady (her mother) and she looked around a bit, then introduced herself and her mother to a Chinese man (40's maybe) then after awhile the young lady after some tears left the mother in charge of this Chinese man. I eavesdropped a bit and from what I could gather of their conversation they did not know each other at all and the young lady had used the knowledge of the Chinese respect to infringe on that mans trip…he took good care of the "ni-ni" for the rest of the trip. I caught sight of him taking her to her seat, stowing her carry-on and after the flight he helped her find her luggage. We chatted while in line for the plane. He is flying to Wuhan too on Sun night…wonder if we will see him again. I caught myself wondering what the lady saw that made her know to trust that man.
Anyway. We had a fairly smooth ride…I think we hit a few more pockets of "Hershey Park" than some of the other times, but at 35,000 feet you are definitely in God's hands so I went back to sleep. We found our luggage after a short train ride again to the luggage area in Beijing. Found Sylvia waiting for us and off we went on our first car ride in China. We never all fit in a car before. He was a very good driver. I think it was a VW Jetta…stick shift anyway…I will check for sure in the daylight today.
We did sleep pretty good….until 3 AM, then somehow our "nap" was over and we just snoozed until 5:30 till I decided to get up for devotions and some tea. The verse I found today in Psalms 146: 9...The Lord preserveth he strangers he relieve the the fatherless and widow; but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.
hello every one!!
this is Cari and i decided to add alittle to this email so some of this stuff will over lap what Chris said. well what do you know we made it to China like the other side of the world!! It feels like we traveled that far tho. Does anyone want to guess how LONG 6hr is in a airport???=) I slept most of our 13hr plan ride(if you could call it sleeping) it was more like dozing, but by the time we made it to the hotel i was pretty wide awake not really ready to sleep again. but i did a little. Now we wanna go eat breakfast then meet our guide Sylvia  to go to the great wall. there are some little shops right around our hotel to shop at and a few restaurants to eat at so well be good=) Anyway i'll let you all go. Keep us in your prayers. Thanks=)

We Made It!

Finally,,in our hotel, Skyped the kids (couldn't hear them though) something is messed up on the computer at home Gotta get big brother to check it.
Flights were OK, the 6 hour lay over in chicago is not advisable...very tired of gate K 19
Plane was not full enroute PEK so we had an empty seat between Cari and I...even got to sleep.
But tomorrow  starts at 9 so off to bed!  
Thanks for your prayers....If there had not been some pretty specific direction from God for this trip, I would have changed my mind on Wed night...so keep praying, for us and those precious ones at home.

Two More Sleeps!

 In order not to go crazy with a 5 hr layover, I am bringing these along to work on...no scissors and only tiny short little pins. When I get home I will add the birth info for two of my nephews that are missing their samplers.

Last night- Did some crop control on four heads of hair...well one head of hair is half off...(sorry my sense of humor is all over the place these days)

 Then this AM I made these little somethings
 2 doz eggs,
 a loaf of bread,
 a pound of sausage
 about 7 slices of cheese
Makes 3 doz (regular size muffin tin)
Put a 1/2 slice of bread in each (what are those spots called?) of a well sprayed muffin tin

 Some well fried casing-less sausage , quarter slice of American cheese  and eggs (well stirred with some milk)

Bake in muffin tins at 350 about 10 min. Check that the egg is cooked...sorry my photography is awful...they looked better than that!  anyhow, take them out of the tins as soon as you can...don't wait till they cool like I did for 2 of the pans...

Love It!

Faith convinced her daddy to take a break and help her with the I Spy book we got at the library today. Of course she needed a pair of "cheaters" to help her find the pictures too!

Preparations

As of tonight we have in the freezer:

2  meals of General Tsao's chicken  and 2 bags of rice
2 meals of roast beef with gravy   (need to make the potatoes)
1 meal of pulled pork   (needs rolls and salad)
1 meal of chicken fingers (needs rolls and salad)
1 meatloaf (needs mashed potatoes)
1 burrito meal
2 meals of beef barbeque for sandwiches
2 lasagnas

one meal from DIL
One meal from Grandma
one meal of eggs and toast
one or two meals of spaghetti

made pizza rolls tonite  (not my pic)  they are YUMMY! Hope said she could eat them for four days in a row!



We have had one break down of sobbing on Saturday

We have had one good conversation about how life changed when child #6 came home. How life will change again when child # 7 comes home. 

Discussed some coping mechanisms
.
Conversation spiraled to "my brother had more control over the family when he was 12 than what I'm allowed"
Probed that one a bit...translation "I'm not allowed to boss my sisters the same way that I perceive my brother was allowed to"

Had a conversation about being content and "how can you expect me to be content?"
 "No dear, we do not expect that for QUITE awhile, but we/you need to work on it"

Had a short discussion about if everyone gets equal money and land when we die. Oh and if a family adopts a child and then has one born to them..."who is the oldest child?"

I assured the child that I don't plan to die for quite awhile and they should not expect a big inheritance because we don't have much....oh I forgot...we have LOTS of land....yup that six acres is just the right size for everyone to build a house on it.

Update

Thank you so much to those of you who ordered hand bags. I sold 15 I think. The week so far has been that busy I didn't really get to do a count.

I did total the funds that came in and was astounded to see that God has given $2000 through you.

In my mind last week I was praying that I'm not wasting God's time by sewing instead of cleaning the house. It turned out that sewing probably was a good thing because it kept my mind from going into the corners and finding things to worry about.

The thing that humbles me so much with the gifts from all of you. Some of you are saving for a car, some are soon leaving for a mission journey, some were in our shoes a few years ago. God brought you together to help us bring her home.
THANK YOU!

Now this week there is fun stuff. She needs sippy cups, socks, baby shampoo, baby barrettes for that little bit of hair, a soft fuzzy blanket, a little backpack ( I think I have a pattern)...oh and prayers.
I just realized I did not mention when we are leaving...October 11 is the big day. October 15 is baby day.