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Posted by on Jul 25, 2014 in T-shirts, BeTheGood | 0 comments

Day 6: A Day at the Park

Popping on for a short update as we wait for our flight (on Friday Day 7). Yesterday was a free day. Our guide handled business for us that we didn’t need to be present for. Instead, we spent the day at the park. It’s so much fun getting to know Eli. He is a tiny politician-shaking hands with all we meet and still telling the we are his parents and now he adds,”I am their son.” The world is now like a giant candy shop for Eli so we are also learning to reel him in and try to avoid overstimulating him. He can be a bit like the yellow minions! He wants each toy we see but is also so sweet. He pointed to a plastic bracelet and said, “Mei Mei Hannah.” We did pick up some bubbles at the park and his joy was incredible. He loves them! We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and then joined other adopting families for dinner. It’s been nice...

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Posted by on Jul 24, 2014 in T-shirts, BeTheGood | 5 comments

Day 5: Eli’s last visit to Nanyang

Today (Wednesday in China) we headed to Eli’s hometown to apply for his passport. It was a 3 hour drive there and over 4 hours back. I had been dreading this trip because I had heard that some people haven’t had air conditioning in their van, hadn’t been able to use the bathroom all day, and couldn’t eat all day. We have an amazingly awesome guide, van, and driver. I actually enjoyed the trip because it gave us a chance to cuddle with Eli. He’s a busy boy so it was especially good for me to get some closer, quieter, extended time. Eli’s city has fewer tall buildings. Life is a little more slow..a few scooters instead of dozens. People were friendly and we were told the city is very safe. Eli’s orphanage directors came to fill out paperwork. We learned he’s been living in not only an orphanage but a welfare institute (where people of all ages live who need support from the government). One of his directors...

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Posted by on Jul 22, 2014 in Adoption, Travel | 0 comments

Day 4: Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Blood: With Eli’s red handprint and our red thumb prints over our signatures, Elijah Qian Ayers is officially ours in the eyes of the government here! We returned to the same government building where we met Eli to conclude what is called the “acceptance” period of 24 hours. This time with a much cleaner boy who was WIRED from the start this morning. He opened his eyes, popped out of bed, and opened every curtain and turned on every light…ready to GO! When we got to the office building, he spotted a ride-on toy. This room holds these adoption ceremonies every week. He was a wild man and yelled to our guide in Mandarin, “This is my motorbike!” A few seconds later though (and right as the government officials tried to start the ceremony), he tipped the toy and smacked his chin on the granite floor. I popped to the floor and cupped his chin, which was bleeding pretty bad. He cried but only for a few seconds. If...

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Posted by on Jul 21, 2014 in T-shirts, BeTheGood | 3 comments

Day 3: Gotcha Day!

Dear Eli As you snooze peacefully next to me (hands perfectly folded on your chest!), I want to tell you about the day we met you-the day we became a forever family… I now know that we’d both been preparing and dreaming for that day. You’d flipped through our picture album until some pages were so worn they might come out. Your nanny said you immediately looked at our family picture and knew-WE were your family. Someday you’ll know that people like us have to make all kinds of decisions about when and how to share about our disabilities. We have never struggled over that decision more than when we sent our introduction to you. We worried your questions wouldn’t be answered or you, like so so many adults, would he uncertain. We decided we wanted you to know everything you could about us and that if we wanted you to be proud, we had to keep practicing being proud (by the way, I’ll tell you all about a...

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Posted by on Jul 20, 2014 in Adoption, Travel | 0 comments

Day 2: Henan and a lot of elephants

Another travel day and this one a little more challenging but well worth the endpoint. Our taxi driver (who we met at the airport) walked us in and tried VERY vigorously to advocate for us to be moved through what seem like somewhat random lines. The “accessible passage” lines never had anyone else with visible disabilities. Our driver was more passionate than effective though so he eventually wished us luck and we waited…with our boarding passes in hand, we headed to domestic security. Their rules are different so some of our portable chargers had to be cleared. I was thankful they didn’t take our electronics! We boarded without too much trouble. There seems to be no such knowledge of an aisle chair here so I climb/crawl and Adam knee walks. We also repeat what a new friend with OI who lived in China advised, “Mei wen to”. It means “I’m ok. No problem.” We repeat this because people are trying to be helpful but could cause more harm than...

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