Medical Exam & Shamian Island 4/8

This morning we got up bright and early for breakfast. After breakfast, we headed to the lobby to leave for Jayden's medical exam. The building was a bout 20 minutes away from our hotel. The first thing we did was Jayden's visa picture. Once that was done, we went around to the back for his medical exam. Jayden had to go to four separate rooms. The first room was with a nurse. This was basically to check his temperature and wait. The scales weighed him at a whopping 40.8 pounds. I knew my shoulders and back were sore for a reason --mainly called Jayden -itis.  The next room was with an ENT doctor. Everything checked out fine there. The third room was with a medical doctor which everything turned out fine there too. The only room left was for his blood to be drawn. They would not allow ice to go inside with Jayden while his blood was being drawn. We could hear Jayden crying, but it didn't last very long.  Once we were finished, we went back to the hotel. Jayden seemed pretty exhausted. 

Once Jayden got up from his afternoon nap, we decided to take a taxi to Shamian island. We went into a few shops, then headed back to the hotel. We were all quite exhausted from this lengthy day. 

We ended up ordering Papa John's pizza for dinner. 

Visa Appointment & Oath 4/10

This morning we had to get up super early for our visa appointment today. We got to the US consulate office here in Guangzhou at 9 AM.  When we pulled up to the US consulate building, we saw tons if Chinese people already in line to apply for visas to enter the USA. Thank God we didn't have to wait in line with all of our kiddos. They were already getting impatient from the bus ride. Once we entered the building, it only took about an hour to get all of us through. This process seemed to go much easier than I remembered with Gianna. Once we all finished, we headed back to the bus to go to the hotel.  

The next item on the agenda for today was to go to our departure meeting at 11:00 AM.  We are one step closer to returning home to our other kiddos. We are so homesick for them. 

After the departure meeting, we took a taxi to the local Walmart. Interestingly, there is only one Walmart in Guangzhou. The Walmart was actually located in the basement of a shopping mall. Outside of the mall was a Starbucks on one side and a Pizza Hut on the other. Once we finished shopping at Walmart, we ended up taking a pizza back to the hotel. A few of the pictures below were taken in Walmart. 

 

Once we finished eating pizza, we took Jayden to the hotel playground. We don't think he ever played on a playground before as he seemed to struggle a bit with how to swing and climb up the ladder for the slide. 

We got back into our room and washes some laundry historic style and called it a day!!  Two more days until we fly home!!

Bulitt Train to Xinyang 4/2

Today we got up at 5 AM for breakfast. After we ate, we showered and got ready to leave the hotel. We took the bus to the train station which was only a 30 minute ride. The train station looks like a nice airport with a bit of shopping and food inside. They also have a few western bathroom facilities. Yea!!!  Within 30 minutes, we were boarding the train.  Once the train started moving, Jayden automatically became very upset and started crying. Jayden had taken the bullet train just two days ago from the orphanage.  He thought that we were taking him back to the orphanage.  Once we realized this, we brought our guide leader, who spoke Mandarin, over to Jayden to help him understand that we are bringing him back with us. Jayden immediately calmed down. He even started smiling and enjoying the train ride once he realized that he was coming back with us.

 The bullet train ride was approximately 1 1/2 hours.  The bullet train that we rode on was a G series which approached 200 miles an hour.   Once we arrived in Xinyang, which is Jayden's home city, we went directly to the Xinyang Administration Service Center.  They took Jayden's picture, and we filled out more paperwork.  Once we were finished, we took a taxi back to the train station. It was a very neat trip, but an exhausting day. 

Adoption Registration Day 4/1

We got up around 5:30 AM this morning. We headed to the breakfast buffet first thing.  We took showers and then headed to the lobby to meet the other families. We all loaded on a bus around 9:00 AM and went to the  registration office to get Jayden's adoption certificate. Around noon, we had another appointment at the notary office to do the notary interview. After the interview, we all went back to the hotel. Later on, we walked down to Walmart to get some additional items for Jayden. We ended up eating at Pizza Hut. The pizza there was very good. We got Jaden a bowl of mashed potatoes with bacon and cheese (yes, at Pizza Hut). The restaurants like Pizza Hut, Burger King, and McDonalds are very different here in China. They have the same type of burgers and pizza, but they also have other types of food that we don't have in America. Jayden seemed to like eating at Pizza Hut very well. 

We walked back to the hotel, and called it a night!!

Gotcha Day!! 3/31

We woke up very early this morning a round 4:30 AM. We quickly got our showers and walked down to breakfast. The buffet seems to be much better here. There are plenty of fruits and vegetables on the buffet as well as omelettes and all kinds of Oriental food. After breakfast, the families headed to the bus for our forever kiddos. The 30 minute bus ride seemed to take two hours! We anxiously await for beautiful, handsome son.  As soon as we arrived at the office, and stepped in the door, I automatically spotted Jayden Shuai!!  He looked directly at me and continued to stare at me the entire time.  It was pretty obvious that the orphanage had at least shared our pictures with Jayden. We were the second ones in line to receive Jayden!  It was incredibly hard to stand there quietly and wait for our turn, just knowing that our sun was 20 feet away.  Finally, it was our turn!  The orphanage worker and director brought Jayden over to us. He immediately started to cry. Joel delicately reached down and pick him up.  Joel hugged and kissed Jayden, then gave him to me. Jayden was crying rather profusely through out this encounter. We sat down on a nearby couch with Jayden and after a while, he began to relax a bit. Once everyone had their children, we were ready to go back to the hotel. It was a long, trying day for everyone. 

 

Once we got back to the hotel, we walked down to Walmart in order to get more diaper supplies and other essential  products. The Walmarts in China are always an interesting place to go. It is very odd to see dead animals hanging up. 

Jayden ate minimally today which is very expected. Overall, I think he is doing exceptionally well. All three of us are exhausted and ready to go back to the hotel and get some rest. It was such an amazing day and we are so very thankful that we have such a sweet little guy!  He is just amazing. 😘

Flight Day/ Jayden Tomorrow!!!!!

We got up around 4:30 AM to finish up some packing and eat breakfast before heading to the airport. The drive to Beijing airport was quick. We said our goodbyes to our tour guides, Cecilia and Alice, then headed toward airport security to wait for our flight. 

We arrived safely in Zhengzhou, the capital city of Henan province. We were met by our tour guides, Yisha and Rita. We quickly got on a bus and headed towards our hotel which will be home for the next week. After a 40 minute bus ride, we pulled up to Crown Plaza. It was very old and in need of a good cleaning and fresh update. We unloaded our luggage and then decided to eat lunch at a little restaurant inside of the hotel called Momma Mia- Italian. It was kind of ironic ordering pizza in the middle of China. Nonetheless, it tasted pretty good. Once we finished our meal, Joel headed to the bank to exchange US money for China RMB currency.  Once Joel arrived back at the hotel, our group walked to Walmart which was located about 3 long blocks from the hotel or about 15 minutes.  IBM not sure if we could ever get used to seeing all of the different meat hanging down from the ceiling and the stench of skinned animals. We founds some things for Jayden and left hastily. Once we got back to the hotel, we endulged in Ramen noodles (lol), took showers, and time for bed. Tomorrow will be a big day!!!